


A New Beginning

by AboveTheRoses



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2015-12-10
Packaged: 2017-12-30 08:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 100,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AboveTheRoses/pseuds/AboveTheRoses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Splinter is dead and the Shredder and the foot are in hiding. No longer teenagers, the brothers have been at each others throats since the death of their father. Dealing with the stress in their own ways, which involve mostly ignoring each other, the brothers lives start to fall into shambles. Rumors spread of another rising threat and Leo leaves to investigate, but when his calls home stop all together Raphael has to go find him. Along the way he finds another turtle just like them and a human woman he just can't leave behind. But will the new additions to the group help bring the family back together?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

No longer teenagers, the brothers lives had become rather complicated in the last few years. Splinters health had slowly deteriorated until finally their father passed away. The Foot was MIA for now. And the brothers, well, they all had their own way of dealing with the stress. Leo was down south, training in the swamps, Donnie locked himself away in his lab doing who knew what for weeks on end, between his IT jobs over the phone. Mikey lived with Casey and April for a while until April had her baby. Now Mikey and Shadow spent all their time on the sofa in the living room playing games. Mikey didn’t leave much anymore. Raph was the only one that went out into the city it seemed. Tired of being locked away in the abandoned subway station they called home, Raphael would leave at all hours of the night and train at home during the day.

Despite the foot not being around Raph would keep a constant vigil on the city. He always wanted to be prepared, besides, he was able to catch a few small thugs and robbers and stop them. It made him feel at least a little useful.

The terrapin scaled down the side of a building’s fire escape, stopping on the tenth floor and gently knocking on the window. It took a moment before a familiar face pulled the curtain back. Pale face and long dark hair hung next to his bright eyes. A grin lit up Casey’s face as he opened the window.

“Raph! What… What are you doing here?” Casey asked as the other nimbly climbed into his friend’s living room.

He shrugged. “I was passing by, thought I’d stop in, say hi, see how things are going since you don’t really stop in anymore.”

                Casey sighed. “I know man. I’m sorry but with April and C.J….”

                “How is the little guy?” Raph interrupted.

                “Asleep. It’s midnight dude, he’s three. He doesn’t stay up this late.” Casey frowned as he walked over to his refrigerator and grabbed a beer. He offered one to Raph but the red branded one shook his head.

                “Am I ever going to get to meet your son?” Raph snorted. “April hasn’t shown her face since Leo left, she was barely showing then. I only get to see her if I watch the morning news… I miss you guys.”

                Casey stopped, nearly choking on his drink. “You what?” he sputtered wiping a drop from his chin.

                Raphael frowned. “Whatever. If you’re too busy for us anymore, then good riddance. We don’t need you.”  He went back to the window, pulling his trench coat back on as he climbed back out onto the fire escape.

                “Ah come on man! I didn’t mean it like that!” Casey called as he ran after him, but it was too late, he was gone. “Raph! RAPH!” He yelled out the open window before slamming it shut and cursing as he leaned against the wall.

 

 

Raphael made his way home. Slamming the door, he swore and fell into the couch. Folding his muscled arms across his scarred chest, he glanced over at his younger brother who was sitting on the other end. A headset was covering his ears, a half eaten pizza took the seat between them, and an assortment of controllers and games were scattered between the cords on the floors.

                “Get back here you little twerp!” Mikey shouted as he smashed buttons on his controller and bounced around in the seat. His weapons were discarded to the floor, not touched in some time.  Shadow was sitting on the floor, the young girl in cloths she probably hadn’t changed in a few days, hair a mess, and otherwise a spitting image or Mikey, headset and controller and all. Raphael’s eyes jerked up when he heard another door open and he was surprised to see Donatello come out of the confines of his room. A headset was on his head as well.

                “I’m sorry that you lost your files sir, give me one moment and I’ll see if I can retrieve the lost data.” He didn’t make eye contact as he walked over, grabbed a few slices of pizza and then retreated back into his room. It’d be another few days before he’d come out. Pizza was always a good lure to see them all in the same room.

                The four brothers hadn’t spoken much since Splinter died. They all blamed each other for different things and bickered and fought.

                Rolling his eyes Raph snagged a slice of pizza before getting to his feet and wondering down to their training room. He pulled his sai from his belt and flicked them into the ground. The weapons wobbled a bit but stood still in the wooden slats, there were plenty of other little holes around them. It wasn’t the first time he had done that. In the room there were weights, a bench, a heavy bag, anything one could want to train. It was where Raph spent most of his time.

                He spent hours in there, beating away at himself and the equipment in there until his knuckles were bleeding. Muscles were screaming with every movement, he could barely stand as he kicked the heavy bag again. Panting, his punches slowed and slowed until he had to grab hold of the bag to support himself.

                “You try too hard.”

                The voice sent an instant burst of energy through him and he whirled around and grabbed the female by the neck. Fist ready to strike, he relaxed and let her go, groaning. “What do you want Mona?” A Long time ago they had been something close to friends, but when Raph turned down her advances she grew bitter towards him and found herself someone else. Leo.

                “Have you spoken to your brother lately?”

                Raphael found a bottle of water and took a drink. “You’ll have to be more specific. I have three of them.”

                “Damn it Raph, Leo. Have you spoken to Leo?” The woman that had been turned into a mutated lizard out her hands on her hips, her tail twitching behind her.

                “No I haven’t spoken to that one. Or any of the others actually.” He slid to a seat against the wall, still trying to catch his breath. He waved a hand at her trying to get her to leave him alone.

                The woman stomped her two toed foot. “Raphael!” She shouted. “Leo hasn’t called me in three weeks!” Her anger dissipated, the worry starting to show. “He called me every few days. Then nothing. I’m really worried. I think something happened to him.”

                “Your point?” Raph looked up at her, sideways, before looking away again.

                “He’s your brother! Go…. Go do something! Make sure he’s okay!”

                Raph pushed himself to his feet and crossed the room to her. Glaring down at her a moment he moved and plucked his weapons from the floor. “Do it yourself. He’s _your_ fiancé.”

                “I can’t!” She ran her hands though her hair. “I’ve almost completed my work. I can’t leave it now… I’ve almost found a cure for us.”

                Raphael froze. “You mean a cure for you.” He snapped.  “You go back to being human. We go back to what? Being someone’s pet?” He punched the wall. “I don’t think so. Keep your damn cure, I like being a freak.”  He turned and stormed out, a frown on his face.

                Mona made a move to follow him but stopped herself. “Will you go look for Leo?” She called down the call.

                “Maybe.” He said just before he slammed his bedroom door shut. The terrapin set his weapons on the stand beside his hammock. After wrenching off his mask he slapped it down on the night stand and looked into the mirror. Starring back at him was one hazelnut colored eye and the black eye patch that concealed the ugly hole where his other eye used to be. A scar stretched up across his face and eye, like someone had taken a knife from his cheek to his forehead. An ugly memory of a long ago fight with the foot. He hung his head and flicked the light off before turning and climbing into his hammock.

                With a foot dangling over the edge he stared up at the ceiling, gently rocking himself as he used a toe to push off the wall. He closed his eye and took a few deep breaths rubbing his rough hands over his face. “Damn it Leo…” He mumbled. “What the hell are you doing out there?” He closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep. But rest didn’t come easy to the turtle of forest green. He tossed and turned in his bed until finally he just sat up, exhausted, but unable to lay there any longer. Swearing he rolled off his hanging bed and grabbed his bandana, tying it around his face. He shoved his Sai in his belt and stormed out into the living room.

                It was early, the digital clock on the wall flashed four am but the big TV in the living room was still on, some game playing on the screen. Walking up behind the couch, Raphael stared down at Michelangelo’s sleeping form. On the floor sat Shadow, playing the game. “You should be in bed Babyface.” Raph smirked down at the girl.

                It was hard to think that the girl was almost 10. When Mikey moved out of her parent’s house she came with him, pretty much living here with him. They were attached at the hip. Raph couldn’t recall the girl ever going to an actual school or hanging out with humans. Just them.

                “But I’m almost done with this level!” She protested.

                “Bed. Now.” He said more sternly.

                The girl frowned and clicked off the TV. Dragging her feet back to Mikey’s room, Raph waited until he heard the door shut before he reached down and shook his younger brother awake.

                Mikey flailed out, his hands smacking at the air as he sat up. “Foot ninjas!” He mumbled as he swatted at Raphael, still half dreaming.

                “Wake up idiot.” Raph smacked him in the head.

                He rubbed his skull and sat up straight looking up at his brother. “What do you want? I just got to sleep.” He frowned. The youngest turtle hadn’t been his normal happy self since Splinter died. It made things a lot less chipper at home.

                “I’m going to find Leo. He might be in trouble.”

                “What?” Mikey rubbed at his eyes, a little more awake now with that comment.

                Raph rolled his eyes. “I’m leaving. I’m going to find Leo.” With that he turned and left. He found his motorcycle in the tunnel near the entrance of their home, his custom made helmet and gear draped across it. After pulling on his gear Raph mounted the bike and the machine purred to life before he spun the back tire and sped down the tunnel. Water sprayed up behind him as the tires slid over the trails dripping down from the storm drains.

                “I better not be coming all this way for nothing Leo… Or else I’m going to kick your ass.” Raph muttered under his breath as the bike skidded out onto the gravel of an alley way and then he turned onto a street in the dark morning and sped towards the edge of the city. 


	2. Chapter 2

                Raphael drove for hours until he was across the Maryland boarder.  By then he needed more gas and had to stop. He picked a small station on a secluded side road. There was no one there but an old man working in the garage attached to the station. 

                The mutant was exhausted. He wanted to take his helmet off, to sleep, but it was noon. There were no sewers here. Nowhere to hide. Raph swore as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a fist full of cash. He let it on top of the pump and sped off, the old man, yelling at him in the dust cloud he left behind.

                The turtle rode for another few long hours and crossed another couple of state lines. It was night time finally and Raph could loosen up his gear, let some air in and cool himself off. He was skirting Atlanta, a city, something he was used to. Pulling into an alley Raph kicked the bike into park and climbed off so he could stretch. Thick arms reached overhead as he stretched and tried to unkink his stiff muscles. Riding that long, trying to look normal and avoiding people…. It was never good on a body.

                His eyes twitched when he heard something shuffle behind him in the darkness. Slowly he took off his Jacket and freed his weapons for access just as a black clothed human dove out of the shadow and tried to knock him down. Raph was ready though and skillfully dodged the attack, knocking him aside. But before he could turn and face the attacker, another one came at him from behind, flinging him into the wall. Bouncing off the bricks, Raph was knocked into his bike, the machine falling over with a loud clatter of metal scraping on pavement.

                “What the hell?” Raph looked up as a crowd of people dressed all in black body suits surrounded him. The symbols on their chests were familiar but slightly different than the ones back home. “What are you guys? The Foot’s inbred cousins?”  He lashed out with a series of intricate moves but these guys were just as fast. Raphael took down a handful, but their supply of fighter’s seemed endless, he was getting worn out. The gash on his arm was oozing blood, making his grip on his sai slippery and there had to be a kunai stuck in his shell; he felt something _thunk_ there earlier.

                They converged on him. Raph could feel himself taking more blows than he was deflecting. But a squeal of tires and a skidding van slammed into half of the crowd. As the awkward ninja attackers were batted away by the cargo van, Raph pushed himself up off the ground. The sliding door on the van slid open and the driver, a young woman looked back. “Get in!” She shouted.

                Raph didn’t hesitate. He scrambled in and slammed the door shut as the woman already had the tires squealing as she peeled out of there. The turtle was panting, lying on his side as he looked up at his rescuer. There was a part of him that was curious as to why a human had stopped to help him, there were very few that weren’t scared of them, that treated them like they weren’t freaks. And here was a random woman that had stopped and helped him like he was any normal person.

                Pushing himself up to his forearms Raphael took a moment to actually look at his heroine. She was on the small side, it looked like she could barely see over the steering wheel. She had long golden hair that was tied back in a messy bun, bright green eyes stared out over a freckled nose as she turned them out onto the dark main road of the city. She was wearing a hoodie that was way too big, and baggy jeans, almost like she was trying to hide in them. But Raph could see the bruises on her face and the home made splint on her wrist, something had happened to her and it made his stomach turn.

                “Who are you?” Raph asked as he poked his head up between the front seats.

                The girl smiled a bit and gave him a quick glance. “My name is Jack.” She turned down a busier street for this time of night. “You are… Raphael right?”

                He recoiled a bit. “How do you know my name?” He snapped.

                “Easy killer… Your brother told me. Leo. I found him too, a few months ago when he was in town.” She explained.

                “You know where Leo is?” Raph asked her.

                Jack frowned a bit. “Kind of? Maybe?” She sighed. “See, when he found me I was kind of in a fight with the same goons you were…” If she could have seen the look on Raphael’s face she’d see he didn’t believe her. “He got me out of there and we talked a bit. Turns out those thugs are some kind of extension of something called The Foot back where you are from. They are down here protecting a man named Geoffery Xanus, he is the head of an organization called Xanus Pharmaceuticals, they are partners with T.C.R.I. My brother used to be a researcher for Xanus, trying to find a cure for cancer, you know, something noble. He was working with something called Retromu-something...”

                “Retromutagen?” Raph hated saying that word.  

                “Yeah that’s it.” She continued. “The other researchers had animals from the swamps they brought up for the trials but, Anthony didn’t like the way the products were coming out. He didn’t want to risk testing something on an animal if he couldn’t get it right in a peatri dish. He got into a big fight with Xanus… He wanted to start over, but it would have cost Xanus millions. When my brother threatened to leave and expose the company for improper testing procedures, they killed him.” She sighed. “All because my brother had people’s lives in mind and not money. I knew he should have never gone to work for them.”

                “I’m sorry about your brother.” Raph went to put a hand on her shoulder, but the girl winced and he realized he hit a bruise, he pulled it back apologetically.

                “It’s okay. I was never that smart. Anthony was the college grad. I was a waitress… till this whole mess and those ninja guys ripped our apartment to pieces.” She glanced back past him quick. “Now this piece of crap is home.”

                Raph looked back in the van. He saw an old mattress and a balled up blanket against the back doors. On the far wall was an unzipped suitcase full of clothes, some dirty some clean and old photographs still in the frames. Not much else left of her life. Raph frowned. He lived in a sewer but at least it was a home. It had a working kitchen, a training room, and bedrooms enough for everyone, a living room stocked with enough TVs for the family and Don’s lab had enough electronics for the entire city… He almost felt guilty for having it all.

                She was still talking. “…I guess they wanted to clean up loose ends after killing Anthony, so they came to the apartment. Lucky for me, I had just been fired so I was running late.”

                He didn’t really know what to say. “Uh… Maybe we can help you then. But first I have to find my brother. You said you might know where he is?” He wanted to help the girl. He really did, but he couldn’t abandon the search for Leo.

                “Right… Well, After I told him about my brother, he wanted to look into it all. Said that Xanus was moving their corporation up to your neck of the woods so… that would mean more of these Foot guys.” _And more mutagen catastrophes_ Raph thought. “ _I_ told him if he was able to get inside one of the test animal vehicles, he might be able to sneak inside one of the buildings and get some answers. He seemed a lot more interested in that mutagen stuff than I seem to understand.” She shrugged.

                The pair was silent as she drove for another few minutes pulling into an abandoned lot. There were a couple of homeless people milling around but no one that looked threatening. Jack stopped the van and locked all the doors. Climbing in the back, past Raph she collapsed on the mattress and let out a ragged breath. “It’s been a rough day.” She grinned before she kicked him gently. “I think you can agree with me there.”  She reached over into a smaller bag and dug through it a bit before motioning to him. “Come ‘ere.”

                Raph found himself hesitating.

                She wrinkled her nose at him. “What? Think a little girl like me is gonna beat you up?” She laughed. Something about it seemed intoxicating as a warmth spread over Raphael’s chest, the bubbly sound blocking out every other noise. “If I was going to do that’ I’d have left you back in the alley. Now get over here so I can patch you up.”

                He scooted over, sitting before her. He watched her push up her sleeves, the action revealing the crude splint she had wrapped around her own wrist. Her small hands took his arm bringing it closer so she could dab away the blood that was clinging to his dark skin. Her pale hands were a sharp contrast to his own, her fingers traced a few scars as she cleaned away the blood and revealed them before finally getting to the fresh wound.

                “Seems like you have quite a bit more scars than your brother.” She didn’t look up. “If I had to guess, I’d say it more than your other brother’s too.” Jack grabbed a roll of bandages and started to wrap it around the gash on him. She tied it tight and put what was left away in her little medical kit. She made a motion with her finger to have him turn around and once he obeyed she had to put a foot on his shell for leverage as she pulled on the kunai stuck in his shell. She pulled so hard when it finally came unstuck she smacked her head on the side of her van. Rubbing the back of her head with one hand she offered him the knife with the other.

                “You alright?” Raph asked, his hand catching hers slightly as he took the knife.

                She nodded and smiled. “I’ll be fine. Nothing worse than what I’ve been handed before.”

                The expert martial artist let it go and scooted back to lean against the opposing wall. “So why are you doing all of this? Helping me and my brother I mean.”

                Jack shrugged. “Well, I’m not scared of you. If that’s what you really mean.” She smiled and Raph thought he caught a sparkle in her eye, something in the way she smiled at him, something… genuine about her. “I just think that, maybe by helping you guys, I can make up for the things I couldn’t do before. I never did much with my life and then when it really mattered I let the one person I had down and now he’s gone. So maybe if I help you guys stop Xanus from doing whatever it is he’s doing, I can make up for that.” She offered up a small smile.

                Raph wasn’t sure what to say. He knew what it was like to try and make up for a mistake but he couldn’t imagine this woman having done something she was trying to right. It was a noble effort. Raph had to commend the girl for trying to get involved with a company that not only killed her brother, but that was involved with the mutagen that was responsible for transforming not only him and his brothers but numerous others as well.

                A yawn escaped the girl and she pulled off her sweat shirt. The tank top she wore showed off more bruises, cuts and scrapes on her arms and shoulders, she had been through the ringer. “In the morning I can take you down to the area I sent Leo, where the Xanus research facility gets test animals. I’m not sure what else I can do, but maybe we can find your brother.”

                “That sounds like a good plan.” Part of him was itching to move now, while it was still dark but he didn’t know the south. Once they were outside of the city, he’d be out of his element. Raph was more at home in the concrete jungle than in the real one. Besides, Jack was the only one who knew exactly where to go so he’d have to wait for her. “You look tired. Get some sleep.”

                She wrinkled her nose at him. “You can sleep too ya know. I know it’s not the Ritz but, the doors are locked and it’ll keep you dry if it decides to rain.” She threw the little blanket she had at him and smiled. “Goodnight Raphael.” Jack laid down and curled up on her thin mattress. Balling up her sweatshirt she used it as a pillow, a few strands of pale hair fell over her eyes as she got situated.

                Raphael just sat there for a while, watching the woman sleep. He ran a hand over his face, grumbling to himself as he struggled with what to do. He was here to find Leo. That was it. But after the help Jack had shown the both of them, could he just leave here there and not help her? But what could he do? Her brother was already dead, the only thing that would make him feel better in that situation would be to kill the ones responsible. He had to swallow down the anger he could feel swelling in his gut.

                Letting out a breath he closed his eyes and crossed his legs, taking one of the many meditation poses Splinter tried to force him to use when he was younger. He tried to calm his mind and after a few moments he opened his eyes. Taking the blanket Jack had thrown at him, he draped it over the sleeping woman and almost smiled. “’Night Jack.” He whispered before lying down and trying to force the sleep to come in the strange place. 


	3. Chapter 3

                “Wake up.”

                Raphael’s eye snapped open as his hand flashed up. Circling the soft neck of the being beside him, he pinned it to the metal of the wall across the room. A snarl was already on his lips as he blinked the sleep away from his eye and got his vision to focus. When he saw the small blonde, her green eyes wide, almost scared, staring back at him, Raph yanked his hand back and scooted away.

                “Shit… I…. You shouldn’t wake me up like that!” He rubbed the back of his head, his features flushing as he averted his gaze. “Just throw something at me or… somethin’.”

                Jack was rubbing her neck, giving him a small smile as he did his best to apologize. “I’ll have to remember that.” She moved past him tugging on the strap of his mask as she moved past, forcing his head to jerk a bit. “Cheer up, Grumpy. No harm, no foul.” She sat down in the driver’s seat and started the car up heading off towards the swamps.

                Raph’s head followed her tug as she pulled on the bandana. He frowned until she let go and started driving. But his eyes on her made him hesitate, he couldn’t even come up with some witty response. Her hair was down now, haloing her face. She had changed and gotten herself ready for the day while Raphael was still sleeping. His eyes drifted down to the black tee shirt that hugged her small form, sweeping over the curve of her chest and down the smoothness of her stomach to the belt of her pants.  He had to shake his head and look away. What was he doing? He had never really found himself staring at a woman like that before. It was one thing for Leo to find a girl, hell, Raph even expected Mikey and Don to find someone if they ever left the sewer again. But him, find someone? Never…. Yet here he was staring at a girl he was, for all intense and purposes, trapped with.

                He cleared he throat and straightened out his bandana, readjusting the strap for his eye patch as well. “So how long till we get to this place?” He asked.

                “It’ll be a few hours. We have to get past the city limits and then out into the boonies. “ She informed him.  “So relax.” A smile crossed her face as she looked back at him. “If you can… you don’t cross me as they kind of person that likes to sit still though.” She shrugged.

                “Got that right.” He grumbled, his legs already getting cramps from sitting still too long. He wanted to stretch and train and fight something. He needed to move. He stretched out in the back, and started doing a few minor workouts, anything to just, get his muscles moving and his blood flowing. Besides it was a good distraction from the woman driving. Raph started with some push-ups, sit-ups, and stretches, but the area was so small he couldn’t really do much of the routines he was used to. After a while he poked his head up into the front beside her. “Any way to hurry this trip up?” He asked.

                “Aw, you don’t like spending time with me?” She asked him playfully, and Raph could have sworn he caught the hit of a blush on her face. “Don’t worry, it’s just a little further.”

                Nodding, Raphael looked out the windshield. The landscape had changed from that of the concrete and cinderblocks of the city to the flat marsh lands. Off in the distance, he could see a few large buildings and some kind of fenced in area, it looked like some kind of high-tech thing Donnie would love. “What’s that?” He nodded towards it.

                Jack chanced a glance. “That’s the research center.” She frowned. “If we can’t find your brother out here, we can try our luck at getting close, but… I’m not sure how well that will work.” Her grip on the steering wheel tightened, her knuckles turning white as she swallowed down the fear that came with that thought.

                “No.” Raph put his hand on the shoulder of her seat. “I’ll go, you will stay right here.” He could easily see the fear in her, he wouldn’t dare put her in that situation.

                “What?” She slammed on the breaks. Everything in the van went flying forward, including Raph. He let out a startled shout as he was thrown up front between the seats. With the car now stopped in the middle of the lonely road. Jack slammed it into park  and turned to glare at him. “So what, I’m a bit scared. Those bastards killed my brother. But you are _not_ about to leave me behind!” She flicked his forehead, cutting off his snarky response.

                “Fine whatever.” He wasn’t so used to being at a loss for words. As he tried to unwedge himself from between the front seats, his hand slipped off the armrest of her chair and landed on her upper thigh. Eyes locking for a moment, both their faces were consumed with redness as Raph yanked his hand back. Looking away the male shoved himself back into the cargo hold of the van and shook his head to try and rid himself of the embarrassment.

                Jack cleared her throat a bit and put the car in motion once more, ignoring the small blunder, he hoped. But almost as soon as the vehicle had started up again she slammed on the breaks and pulled the car to the side of the road. “Oh my god… Raphael…” She parked the car and unbuckled her seat belt, climbing out of the van before Raph even had an idea of what she had seen.

                “Jack! Wait, hold on!....Shit.” he scrambled out of the van and looked around. It was daylight, but there wasn’t a thing around but that facility off in the distance a good fifteen miles away. He looked around for Jack and saw her climbing down the side bank of the road, heading down towards the four foot tall cat tails and weeds that were poking up out of the marshy lands. The plants almost swallowed the woman as she waded through them. There could have easily been a gator or something in the water and muck. “What the hell are you doing?” Raph finally got his feet to work through the sticky southern goo and caught up to her, a hand catching her arm. “Are you trying to get eaten by something?”

                She looked up at him with one of the most serious expression he had ever seen. Then she pointed. Raph followed her direction and his heart dropped into his stomach like a lead weight. He saw a big green three fingered hand reaching up out of the water and clutching a handful of weeds.

                “Leo!” Raph let Jack go as he ran to the other turtle’s aid, splashing into the water, and reaching his…. Raphael froze as he reached the turtle’s side. “You’re not Leo.” He mumbled. Apprehensively, Raphael turned the unconscious mutant onto his back to confirm what he already knew. This turtle was indeed not his missing brother. This one had paler skin than all the others, and a large starburst scar in the center of his chest marring the plastron, he looked younger, maybe a teen still. Raph ran a hand over his face and left out a frustrated grunt, not sure of what to do. “Damn it.” He let out a sigh and hunched down next to the turtle to make sure he was still alive. He was breathing but barely.

                “That’s not Leo.” Jack commented quietly.

                “No… no he’s not.” Raph responded as he hooked his arms under the mystery turtle and hoisted him up with a grunt. “But he’s coming with us. I’m taking him back to New York.”

                “What?” Jack asked, surprised as she followed him back up to her van. “But… why? What will that accomplish?”

                “Well I can’t just leave him to die here in the swamp can I?” He snapped. “And he’s like me so… he should at least be around other people that won’t be scared of him, wont treat him like he’s a freak.”

                Jack opened the van door for him and helped him place the unconscious turtle inside, her shoulders were sagging though as her eyes looked up at him. “I’m not scared of you.”  She walked around to climb into the driver’s seat. “And never did I think you were a freak.” 

                Climbing in next to the other turtle, Raphael looked up at Jack as she started driving. “That’s not…” He sighed and frowned. He never said the right thing.

                “It doesn’t matter. You can put him on the mattress and use the blanket to put under his head.” She told him. “Do you have any idea why he is unconscious?”

                Raph for once, obeyed and put the turtle on the small mattress and gave him the makeshift pillow. He was too big for it all, but at least it gave him some kind of support. To his guide’s question Raph shrugged. “The scar looks new so he was probably in a fight.”

                The woman nodded to herself and kept on driving. “This is the area I told Leo about. So if he’s still here, hopefully we can find him.” She said after a while.

                The red masked one didn’t say anything; he just stared out the windshield, silently berating himself for his comment earlier. It clearly struck a nerve with the woman driving, but he wasn’t sure how to make up for it. After a few hours of awkward silence Raph finally spoke. “Look, I didn’t mean to imply that you felt that way I just… it’s hard to find people that accept us for who we are. It’s easier to stick together.”

                “I know.” She said simply before looking over her shoulder. “It’s just that, I’m not a fan of when people judge me for something I’m not. I know I’m not perfect, I’m clumsy, and I’m not the smartest, but I never judge others.”

                Raph felt a smile trying to tug its way onto his face. “I’m starting to see that.” He reached over and mussed up her hair, receiving a small squeal of displeasure from her in response as she batted his hand away.

                Then something thudded down on the hood of the van in a hard thud. The woman screamed as she jerked the wheel to the side too far, her heart pounding. Raph lashed out, his hand clamping down on top of hers, and turning the wheel straight as his other hand gently eased her leg up off the gas.

                “Easy… easy… slow down.” He whispered, his eyes flicked from her panic stricken face to the green figure that was glaring through the windshield at them. Raphael glared at his brother as he pushed the van into park. “Stay here.” He let his hand linger on hers a moment until she nodded. Then he moved away and glanced in the back. The other turtle was still unconscious, motionless, except the small motions of breathing in his chest.  Climbing out the side door Raphael grabbed his brother by the arm and yanked him off the front of the vehicle. “What the hell!”

                Leo simply glared. “What are you doing here Raph? And why did you bring Jack?”

                He could feel the anger boiling in his gut, but he had to keep himself from punching his elder brother. “The others were worried about you. I’m the only one that had the balls to come check on your ass.” He shoved him a bit. “And the girl is here because she helped me find your missing pain in my ass. What the hell are you doing?”

                “Working.” He shoved back. “My phone broke. Tell Mona Lisa I’m fine.” He turned to walk away. “I can handle this myself.”

                Raphael kicked his brother’s shell and knocked him to the dirt. “Like hell you can!” Before Leo could right himself, Raph tackled him and they were a rolling swarm of tangled green limbs. “Do you know what the hell they are doing in there! Retromutagen?! Are you fucking kidding me! Trying to deal with that yourself!” He moved to punch him but it was of course blocked and he was tossed off easily.

                “Like you’d want to do anything to help me!” Leo snapped at him, brushing dirt off of himself as he stood.

                “What?!” Raphael nearly screamed in a rage. “You think I’m above helping my own brother when it comes to our family’s safety?” Something crossed his face, a look of hurt perhaps? “I know I have a temper and I don’t really follow rules, but do you really think I’m that shallow?” Raph shook his head and took a step back. “Mona came to me because I’d do something. _I_ am the one here when we thought you were in trouble. Not any one else…. I know I’m a royal fuck up but damn… to think I’d actually abandon you when it counts.” He turned and walked back to the van. He couldn’t control his fist when it lashed out and punched the door, denting it. “Shit.” He slid it some and tried to press the dent out, only half successfully. 

                “Raph, I never said you were a screw up.”

                “You didn’t have to Fearless.” Raphael snapped. “It’s written all over your face.”  He slid the door to the van the whole way open revealing the turtle inside. “We found another turtle. I’m taking him home.” Leo’s eyes widened but Raph continued. “I can’t abandon someone like us. Even if he’s not family… I can’t let someone like the Shredder get a hold of him. Besides, I thought if there was someone in the sewer that needed training it might get the family back in shape. Ya know… get everyone off their sorry asses and out of their rooms.” He glanced in the van. “He might be what we need…” He was mumbling.

                Leo stepped a bit closer, something close to regret on his face. “Look, I’m sorry for… that.” They argued, it happened a lot, but most of the time, especially now, there was never any apologizing. Even if it wasn’t specific. “But I have to stay here. Just a little longer. I have to see if Xanus has started to move his corporation to the new facility they built in New York. If they haven’t started moving the mutagen could still be here…. If they have… then it’ll be on the streets back home.” He frowned.  “He’ll be in good hands though… with you.  Just don’t let Mikey do too many of his weird games, and make sure Donnie isn’t too technical. Explanations are good, but he gets so long winded sometimes.”

                Raphael was surprised he was getting his brother’s approval. And even more surprised when the blue masked turtle hugged him. “It’s good to see you.” He said softly before he let him go. “Don’t go destroying the sewer while I’m gone.” He waved and then disappeared into the brush and swamp leaving Raph standing there next to the van. He stared out at the spot his brother had been for a few long moments, unmoving.

                A small pale hand landed on his arm causing him to turn and look down at Jack. She had heard everything, he was sure. “What?” He said a bit more roughly than he intended.

                She pulled her hand away, frowning. “Are you okay?” She asked him, her bright eyes searching his features.

                “Fine.” He lied. There was a knot sitting in his gut unsure about the decision his brother had made. True he had found him, Leo was okay, but Raphael didn’t like leaving him there alone to face this giant corporation. Then again, his brother seemed to entrust him with this new turtle’s care, despite their bickering and tempers. It was a good sign right?

                Raphael climbed in past Jack and sat down across from the other turtle, checking on him for a moment before he looked at the girl. What was he going to do with her now? He couldn’t really help rectify her brother’s murder now if he was going home…

                “So now where are we headed?” Jack’s voice brought him from his thought’s and he realized he was staring straight at her.

                Red faced, Raph looked away and cleared his throat. “Home for now.” He rubbed his face with a sigh.

                The blonde nodded and climbed into the front seat with out hesitation, she didn’t really have anywhere else to be or go so she didn’t much care. “Where’s home?” She asked as she started the van and turned it around.

                “New York City. We’ve got a long drive.” 


	4. Chapter 4

                Jack pulled the van into a gas station somewhere in rural North Carolina. She yawned as she climbed out of the vehicle and walked around to put the fuel in the tank. Raph realized how much easier this process was when there was a human around to help, but he felt bad when he watched her pull out her wallet. There were only a few bills in it, she used most of them to pay for the gas.

                When the woman went to climb back in the driver’s seat, she was surprised to find a turtle sitting in her way. “Uh, what’s this?” She asked with a bit of a surprised laugh.

                “You look tired; you should grab a nap or something. I know how to drive don’t worry.” Raph managed a smirk as she climbed into the passenger seat and strapped in.

                Curling up in the seat, Jack sat sideways to face Raphael as he drove. “I’ve never been out of Georgia. Born and raised down there so… This is something new for me.” She admitted, trying to get him to talk. The ride thus far had been long and rather quiet.

                “Yeah? I haven’t left New York all that much… Just a few times. That accent of yours is going to make you stick out that’s for sure though.”

                “’Bout likes yours down here I bet.” She stuck her tongue out at him and laughed a bit when she caught a redness on his face. Glancing down she picked at the splint she had wrapped around her arm.

                Raphael caught her fidgeting. “That happen in your fight?” He asked.

                She shook her head. “Not exactly.” But she dropped the subject, seeming like she didn’t want to talk about it so he let it go for now.

                “So what kind of a name is Jack?” Raphael asked, changing the subject to something maybe a little less serious. He glanced sideways at her with a half-smile as he continued to drive.

                She chuckled. “Jack is what my brother always called me. It’s a nickname I guess. My real name is Jacquelyn but no one has ever called me that. Not that I can remember anyway.”

                He actually looked at her for a moment before looking back to the road. “I like Jacquelyn.” He said simply, unaware of the color tinting her features.

                She looked out the window, tucking her hair behind her ear trying to ignore the heat rushing her face. “Well, you can call me that. But… just you.” She smiled, still looking at the window.

                Raphael felt a small swell of pride in his chest. It was nice getting some kind of special privilege, particularly when it came to her. He wasn’t sure why he felt so proud but it felt nice. He glanced at her when he heard another yawn and simply shook his head. “Get some sleep.”

                Slowly she nodded. Leaning the seat back a bit she curled up, angled towards him she closed her eyes and managed to drift off to sleep.  Driving in silence, Raphael glanced over at the woman every so often, she seemed so at ease while she slept. Even the turtle who was constantly on edge could see the stress and worry on her features while she was awake. It was nice to see her finally relax.

                It was a few long hours just as dusk started to set and the van started to cross into the Pennsylvania back roads. Raphael cracked his neck as he pulled the van over alongside the road. Reaching over he brushed some hair out of Jacquelyn’s face and rested his hand on her head. “Hey. Wake up.” He said softly.

                Her bright eyes slowly fluttered open. She sat up and rubbed at her face. “Huh? Wha… what’s going on?” She asked as she looked around.

                “Nothing. I just need to stretch.” Raph admitted. “I just didn’t want you to freak out if you woke up and I was gone.” He opened the door and stepped out as the woman sat up straight and stretched to try and wake herself up. Raphael did the same outside. He rolled his shoulders and shook out his arms and legs. He heard the van shift, much more than it should have for someone Jacquelyn’s size. Turning to look at the vehicle, his brow furrowed until he heard the panicked sound coming from the back, and a small scream from the front. Moving to the side door, Raph slowly pulled it open, and glanced inside.

                The other turtle was awake, clutching his chest, he was scrambling back against the back doors, struggling to catch his breath. It was obvious he was in pain as he kept weight off one leg and favored one side.

                “W-where am I?” He stammered. Glancing between the pair of them. “Who are you…” His eyes glanced down at his own three digited hand. “What _am_ I?”

                Jacquelyn slowly slid out of her seat into the back. “Easy…” She said in that soft voice of hers, Raph swore it could have calmed down anything. “We aren’t going to hurt you.” She offered him up a small smile before glancing at Raph. They were the same, maybe he’d have better luck.

                Raph however, wasn’t really good at this. “We uh… found you.” He blurted out. “You are like me…  uh, a uh…” He didn’t want to say mutant and freak the kid out if he was once a human but if he had been an animal like Raph hand started out, this was better wasn’t it?

                “Don’t worry. You are safe with us.” Jacquelyn jumped in and saved Raphael from himself. “Just calm down and relax before you hurt yourself.” She motioned him over to the mattress. “Come on. Sit.”  She sat down too, but gave him some space as she tried to ease the turtle into some kind of comfort. “My name is Jack. This big guy is Raphael.” She smiled over her shoulder at him before turning back to the mystery before her. “Do you have a name?”

                He shook his head a little too fast. “No. I… I don’t know.” He looked from the girl to Raph and then back. “Why can’t I remember? Did I have one to begin with? Am I a monster?” His eyes landed on Raphael.

                “We are _not_ monsters.” Raph tried hard to not sound angry. “We are just different.” The tension in his body eased when he felt the small hand of the woman between them land on his arm.

                The Turtle’s dark chocolate colored eyes blinked slowly. “So… I…” He paused. “I don’t feel so good.” He pitched forward and fell on top of Jacquelyn. The woman let out a small cry as he landed on her.

                Raph hurried to lift the other’s heavy form from a top the small woman and roll him onto the mattress as Jacquelyn scooted back. “Thanks.” She said, a bit embarrassed.

                “No problem.” He nodded before scratching his head. “Although, I think that could have gone better. I was hoping he’d at least know somethin’.”

                Jack shrugged and climbed back into the front. “He’s talking, and he didn’t try to kill us. I’d say that’s a good start.”

                He nodded agreeing, but Raphael couldn’t help but hope for more. He sighed and climbed into the van shutting the door. He was about to squeeze back into the driver’s seat when the woman scooted in before he could.

                “I got it.” She smiled at him. “You can have a turn to relax.” She buckled up and started the vehicle before pulling it back onto the road. “Just make sure I’m still heading in the right direction and all that.”

                Nodding Raphael sat down and peered between the two front seats, glancing back at the other turtle on occasion.

                “So are you going to show me the sites once we are in the city?” She looked at him. “The Statue of Liberty, the Empire state Building, Central Park…”

                Raphael blinked a few times before he could answer her. “Uh… I’m not really one for sightseeing.” He admitted. “But the park’s pretty nice at night. You do remember I can’t go out like a human. Right?”

                “I know. But I still don’t want to go see those places by myself. That’s no fun. I’d rather you come with me.”

                He felt that warmth in his chest again. Spreading out and filling him with an ease and happiness he hadn’t felt in a long long time. It was a bit awkward, he wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to handle it, or what he was to do with it. Should he say something about it? Or just let it go? Deciding on the latter they rode in silence for a while until they were just outside of the city and Raphael made her let him drive. She’d never find the entrance to the sewer.

                Glued to the window, Jacquelyn stared out at the city as Raphael drove them. The turtle smiled and shook his head at her wide eyed wonder. It was cute. Turning off the main roads and onto some service areas they ended up at the edge of the storm drain system, Jacquelyn glanced at Raphael and quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

                He drove until he couldn’t drive any more, down twists and turns through the different turns in the sewer system. Then after parking he laid on the horn.

                The small door to the side of the tunnel opened and a bright green head poked out. Brown eyes got wide under the bright orange bandanna. “Raph? What the hell is going on?” He stepped out scratching his head, Shadow trying her hardest to come out behind him but he shoved her back inside with ease.

                Raphael rolled his eyes and looked over at the woman in the passenger’s seat. “Get ready for an interrogation.” He smirked and climbed out, looking at his brother. “Get over here Mike, we have a couple of guests. I need a hand.”

                Mikey was still looking at Jack in the front seat. “Guest’s? Did you… find Leo? You’ve been gone a few days…”

                “Yeah I found him. Stubborn ass isn’t coming home yet. But I found us someone else.” He pulled open the van’s side door and revealed the other turtle.

                “Whoa!” Rushing to the van Mikey was grinning. “Another Turtle!” He looked up at his older brother. “Where’d you find him?”

                Raphael rubbed his head. “It’s a long story. Help me get him inside and I’ll tell both you and Don.”  He pulled the unconscious turtle to the door and Mikey hoisted him up onto his shoulders and started to carry him into their home. While his brother moved their new house guest Raph turned back to the van and frowned when he saw Jacquelyn getting into the driver’s seat.  “What are you doing?” He asked.

                She jumped a bit, caught off guard by him. “Well I thought… Since you got home….” She tucked her hair behind her ear, facing him, but not looking at him. “You didn’t… I should probably get out of your hair.” She finally looked up at him, giving him a weak smile before she started the van up once more.

                “You could always stay.” He offered.

                She paused before looking back at him. “But I…”

                Raphael reached over and put a big hand on her arm, pulling it off of the steering wheel. His heart was pounding in his chest. He wasn’t sure what he was doing, or why he was doing it. But like everything else, he was just following his instincts. “I want you to stay. Come on… It’s not often I find someone that doesn’t look at me like I’m a monster.” He pulled his hand away, feeling a bit self-conscious for the act. “What do you say?”

                Color tinted her cheeks as she looked down at his hand on her arm.  Giving him a small smile she looked up from behind her pale bangs. “Alright. I’ll stay, but only till you guys get tired of me. I don’t want to over stay my welcome.”

                “Don’t think that’s going to happen.” He muttered as he looked into the back of the van and gathered up her things, blushing slightly as he saw a few pairs of panties mixed in with her other things. Zipping the suit case closed he pulled it out and waited for Jack to join him. Once she was at his side he paused before he opened the door. “I should warn you, It’s not just my brothers Mikey and Don. We have a few human friends, A news anchor named April Jones and her husband Casey. They have a daughter named Shadow. She tends to hang out her a lot so I’m sure she’ll be bugging you, and if she tells her parent’s, you can guarantee they will want to talk to you at some point.”

                Jacquelyn looked up at him. “I thought you didn’t have any human friends?”

                He shrugged. “Not many.” After opening the door for her, Raphael followed her inside. The living room and kitchen were dark. The only light was coming from the game still running on the television. He glanced at the woman at his side, they were both frowning. Raph set her bags down next to the dining room table and walked over towards Donnie’s lab. The door was cracked open already so Raph just pushed it open, Jack silently followed him into the room.

It was a buzz with electronics. Screens showed displays, of the different alleys and sewer ways that were near their home. Others were computer statistics that made no sense to either of them, something Raphael assumed were related to his job. Across the large room was more science looking stuff. Vials and beakers full of strange looking substances lined shelves next to strange tools. There was a specially modified table in the middle of the room that the mystery turtle was lying on, he had wires and monitors hooked up to him as Donatello was bustling around. Mikey was standing there, scratching his head, clueless like usual with Shadow at his side.

                Mikey looked up and froze for a moment before reaching over and smacking Donnie. Donnie frowned. “You brought home someone else?” He quirked a brow, but it was a look of disapproval.

                Raph glared. “So what if I did? I wouldn’t have found him if it wasn’t for her.” While the two of them had a glaring match, Mikey had come up to Jacquelyn’s side.

                “So you helped us?” He asked. “Awesome.” He grinned.

                Raphael smacked him in the back of the head. “Come on Mikey, we need to go talk. Jacquelyn, keep an eye on our… friend there.”  The brothers all left, Shadow trailing behind them. Filing into the kitchen they sat around the table and talked about what had happened down in Georgia. About Xanus and the Foot, the corporation moving,  Leo and his decision to stay for now, the new turtle and training him, and about Jack and her brother.

                While the boys all talked, Jack walked over to the side of the table to check on the other mutant. He was relaxed into the table, his breathing shallow. Donatello had monitors connected to him monitoring his breathing and his heart rate.  He had yet to treat the wound on his chest or the other injuries on him. His brow was creased, it looked like he was in pain, his eyes flicking back and forth beneath his eye lids. Jacquelyn went over to a sink against the wall and found a rag. After getting it wet and ringing it out she brought it over and gently dabbed the cool cloth against the turtle’s forehead and face trying to calm him and ease the pain away.

                “Poor soul… You seemed so scared in the van.” She mumbled softly to herself as she tried to do something helpful. Her eyes flicked over to the door where she could hear the brothers talking. She couldn’t make out what they were saying but she knew it was important so she wouldn’t interrupt.

                A hand flew up and clamped down on Jacquelyn’s arm, wrenching it away painfully, the woman screamed. The turtle on the table bolted upright, the wires clinging to him tearing and popping off as he backed her against the nearest wall. “What are you doing to me? Where am I? Who the hell are you?!”

                But the big green hand around her neck was cutting off the air supply as he questioned her. “I-I…” Her eyes started to flutter as she struggled to pull the hand off her throat.

                The door flung open, banging against the wall as Raphael burst into the room. “What the fuck is going on in here?!” He shouted.


	5. Chapter 5

                When Raphael burst through the door the turtle pinning Jacquelyn to the wall released her and took a step away. The woman fell to the floor, coughing and rubbing her throat as she tried to breathe again. Raphael crossed the room and glared down at the smaller turtle. “You don’t ever touch her.” He breathed, barely loud enough for anyone but him to hear. “It’s because of her that you are alive. Now, sit your ass down.” He snapped as he pointed to the table.

                As the turtle obeyed, Raphael hunched down in front of Jack and tilted her chin up gently. He frowned at the bruises he saw forming on her fair skin. “You gonna be okay?” He asked softly.

                “It’s not that bad.” She coughed, and tried to smile, but Raphael could see it hurt, and he just hoped there was no long term damage done to her neck.  Gently taking her arms he helped her to her feet before turning and facing the turtle and his brothers.

                “You. You will sit here and let him fix your injuries. Do you understand?” He bit of the words as he glared at the turtle sitting on the table.

                The one on the table nodded, a hint of fear in his eyes.

                Raphael swallowed down a frustrated growl before he walked over to the table and leaned on it beside him. “You aren’t doing a good job with first impressions.” He pointed around the room. “Mikey. Don. Shadow. Jack. Raph. I’m in charge of you so try not to piss me off.” He turned back towards Jack but glanced towards the purple wearing one. “Let me know when he’s patched up. I’ll… come back when I’m not ready to deck him.”

                “Good call.” Donnie snorted.

 

                Raphael escorted Jacquelyn out of the lab and towards the kitchen. He flicked on the lights and gestured towards the table for her to sit. With his back to her, he frowned, angry at himself for leaving her alone with their unknown guest. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled as he reached around and tried to find the pot to make some tea. “I shouldn’t have left you alone in there.”

                She shook her head. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know he was going to wake up and do that.”

                “I should have.”  He dropped a cup and it shattered on the counter and floor. Raphael swore.

                Getting to her feet, Jacquelyn knelt down and started to pick up the pieces of broken glass. “You put a lot of pressure on yourself.”

                He shrugged as he helped pick up the broken cup. When a piece sliced his finger, he just sighed and ignored it. Rolling her eyes, Jacquelyn grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. After discarding all the broken glass they had collected, she put his hand under the faucet and ran some warm water over the fresh cut. Delicate pale fingers hand to pull a sliver of glass from the cut before she smiled up at him.

                “Another scar for you.” She grabbed a dish towel and wrapped it around his finger, holding pressure on it.

                “Thanks.” He mumbled, still mad at himself, she was still able to do something for him when he couldn’t do anything for her.

                “So what do you plan on doing with him?” Jacquelyn asked about the other turtle. “I mean… What exactly is going to happen with him now I guess…”

                Raphael rubbed the back of his head and glanced around. “Well I was planning on training him like my father trained us. We used to train for hours a day… it was our life. Our father lived and breathed the ancient ways.”

                “You miss him.” Jack smiled softly, she could see it, and hear it clear as day in the way he spoke.

                “We all do. When Master Splinter died, we all just… we all kinda lost it. I mean, he wasn’t killed, he was just old. We fell apart instead of coming together. As a family we have been through so much shi-“ He stopped himself. “Stuff. I just… I really think that if we have someone to train, someone that we can all focus on and pour our time into… We might start acting like a family again.” He pulled her hand away and looked at the cut. It had stopped bleeding so He set the towel aside and pulled his hands away from the woman awkwardly. “We need to set up a room for him though…” He moved around to the other side of the table and picked up Jack’s thing’s. Motioning with his head he got her to follow him.

                He led her towards the other side of what had become their home. Passing a few doors he commented. “That’s Mikey’s room. Leo’s room. That’s the meditation room. The training room.  Laundry and storage is at the end of the hall. Bathroom is to the left. And this is my room.” He pushed the door open with his foot and led the way inside.

                Jacquelyn took a look around as she was given a brief tour of the place. But once inside Raph’s room she looked around the most. It wasn’t really decorated. Just a simple night stand under a mirror on a wall, a hammock hanging against the opposing wall. She could see a few patched holes here and there from his undoubted temper flares. A few dumb bells sat in the corner at the bottom of a coat rack that held a trench coat and a hat. She was surprised to see the few articles of clothing. But it had a nice feel to the room, it definitely suited him. Even though it was _his_ room, he still didn’t want to show too much of himself in it.

                “You can stay in here.”

                “W-what?” She stuttered, caught off guard by his comments as he set her bags down beside his weights.

                His features flushed some as he took his weapons off and set them on his night stand. “I’m not going to make you stay on the couch while we sort out people’s sleeping arrangements.” _Not to mention Mikey is up playing those stupid games at all hours._ He thought. “So you can stay in here, I’ll sleep out there with the new kid till we get his room added and… whatever.”

                Jack shook her head, blonde hair swishing about her face. “No I can’t just take your room from you.” Her features were red as she looked up at the Turtle that almost towered over her.

                “You are not sleeping on the couch.” Raph said with a note of finality. “I’m not having that.”  He folded his arms across his chest waiting for her to just concede and agree with him.

                Instead Jacquelyn put her hands on her hips. “Well, I’m not going to take your room away from you.” She couldn’t help the smile that was trying to come onto her playfully stern face.

                After they stared at each other for a few long moments Raph snorted, unsure of what to do.

                “Look, I have that mattress in my van. If you don’t want me sleeping in the living room I can throw my mattress in the corner of your room and just sleep there.”

                That mattress was a piece of crap, Raphael knew it. But if it would get this argument to end for now he’d agree. Then he could work on her actually getting a good place to sleep. “Fine.”  He turned towards the door. “If you want to take some of your clothes and toss them into the washer while I get your mattress, you can. We only ever use it for blankets and stuff… sometimes Shadow’s clothes so there shouldn’t be anything in there.”

                “Okay, thanks.” She gave him a smile before he left.

                Raphael left her alone and went back through the home towards where he had left the van. After pulling the door open and grabbing the side of the thin mattress he frowned. It was old, and the springs were poking through in some spots. It wasn’t really all the good for sleeping on, or good for keeping in fact. It should have been in the trash. Raph wasn’t a fan of Mattresses to begin with, hence the hammock, but this, this was just terrible. Still though, he carried it inside and back towards his room.

                He froze when he pushed the door open though. Kneeling on the floor in front of her bags, Jack was sitting there with her back to him, topless. She had taken off her dirty shirt to add to the small pile of things that needed to be washed.

                Before she noticed he was standing there, Raphael caught a glimpse of the scar across her shoulder and the fresh bruises, as well as the small butterfly tattoo on her lower hip.

                The mattress slipped from his hands and thunked to the floor as his face burned a bright red. Jack glanced over her shoulder, wide eyed. “Crap!” She grabbed the closest article of clothing and held it up over her black bra to try and cover herself. “I… I-I didn’t hear you come in.” She quickly scrounged around for another shirt and pulled it on before turning around to face him.

                Raph didn’t look her in the face, instead he looked down at his feet. “I uh, I didn’t mean to uh…. Walk in while you….” He swallowed hard. “I’m… I’m sorry.”

                Her face was flushed, clearly embarrassed, but she was smiling. “No harm done. I know you didn’t mean it.” She tucked her long hair behind her ears as she moved to help him with the mattress.

                For now Raphael stayed silent and let her just help him as they positioned the mattress against the wall in the corner of the room he used to use to exercise when he couldn’t sleep.

                “Perfect!” She beamed up at Raph. “Now I’m going to go put the rest of this stuff in the wash.”

                He nodded. “I’m going to go check on our guest.” He needed to, but more than that he wanted to distract himself. Not only from the image of her half naked body, but, from the marks and scars on it. He had to shake the image from his mind as he walked down the hall and headed towards the lab on the other side of their home.

                Crossing the living room he wasn’t surprised to find Mikey and Shadow playing games once more. He paused. “Mike, you are in charge of dinner.”

                “Dinner? Are you serious?” Mikey paused the game and looked back at him as he crossed behind the couch.

                “Yes I’m serious. We have two new mouths to feed and I’m not sure when the last time they ate was.” When he saw the unsure look on his brother’s face he rolled his eyes. “You can order pizza, just make sure there is enough and that it gets done.”

                There was a small noise of triumph as Raph disappeared into the lab. The other turtle was lying down, until Raph came in. Sitting up the turtle looked at him, hanging his head a bit. Donatello was checking out something under a microscope, he didn’t look up when his brother entered.

                “You done freaking out?” Raph snorted.

                The other nodded.

                “Good.” He leaned against a counter and looked him over. He had a few bandages around injuries and an IV in one arm. “You remember a name yet?”

                This time a shake.

                Raphael ran a hand over his face. He and his brothers had all been named after renaissance artists. The only other one he could really remember was Antonello. “Well, until you do, you’re gonna be Antonello. Just like the rest of us, it’s a renaissance artist. Something our dad was big on.” He shrugged. “As soon as Donnie here gives the ‘ok’ you are going to start training.”

                “Traingin for what?” He asked.

                “Survival.” Raphael said simply. “And inner peace and discipline, and that kind of stuff. If you haven’t noticed, we are giant frickin’ turtles. We aren’t exactly normal. We tend to have problems so we are always prepared.”

                The other turtle swallowed hard.

                “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine kid. We won’t let anything happen to ya.”

                There was a small knock on the door that took the attention of all three. Jack stepped in with a nervous smile. “Sorry, I hope I’m not interrupting.” She gave Antonello a small wave before stepping up next to Raph. “I couldn’t help but notice how our new friend here is kind of… naked.”

                All three boys looked at him and then down at themselves. “Uh… we don’t really wear clothes if you hadn’t noticed.” Raph informed her.

                She shook her head with a grin and reached up and tugged on his mask. “Uh, yeah you do.” Her splinted hand held up a thing strip of yellow fabric. “I found this in my suit case. After making some alterations I thought it’d make him feel a bit more at home.”

                Raph took the new mask from her, letting his fingers brush against hers as he picked it up. He looked from the mask to the new turtle and then back. Then he tied the mask around his own belt. “You are going to earn this mask. Just like we had to.”

                Donnie cleared his throat. “Raph he can’t do anything for at least another day. And even then, he won’t be able to do _your_ work outs.” He came over and checked on his guests drip. “Antonello here is dehydrated and has quite a few bumps and bruises. The sprained ankle is what will affect the training the most though.”

                Grunting Raph turned away. “Well that gives me a few more days to sort out a room for him.”

                Jacquelyn looked around at the boys and then followed Raphael out. She yawned as she met him behind the sofa in the living room. Raphael was annoyed with his little brother when he discovered there wasn’t any dinner.

                “Dude, it’s like one in the morning, no one’s going to deliver anymore.”  Mikey told him. “Food will have to wait till the morning.”

                Raph grumbled but when he heard Jack yawning he sighed and put a hand on her back gently. “Why don’t you head to bed.” He started to usher her back towards the bed room, removing his hand from her shoulder blades. But the contact brought with it the thoughts of the skin he had glimpsed earlier. Once she was inside his room he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Jacquelyn, I have to know…” He gently stopped her. One hand hesitantly tugged up the back of her shirt, revealing the scars and bruises on her back for him to really look at.

                The woman pulled away, pulling her shirt down. Face an extreme red, she didn’t look at him as she turned to face him. “You shouldn’t do that you know.”

                “What happened to you?” He asked her. “Really. Where did the splint come from, the scars, the bruises… “

                He watched her take a deep shaky breath. “Please Raphael. Please, don’t ask me that.” Her eyes were closed a moment as she tried to fight back some painful memory.

                Raphael reached for her hand, trying his best to be comforting, but she pulled away. He saw a tear drip down her cheek. For the first time since meeting her, it looked like she was scared of him.  The sight sent a sharp pain through his chest. He couldn’t rationalize the feeling. She wasn’t the first person to be afraid of him, but seeing _her_ recoil hurt more than most. “Jacquelyn, come on.” He took a small step towards her, his big hand slowly moving up to wipe the tear off her face.

                The tension in his muscles eased when she leaned into his hand, her own small ones reaching up to grasp his. “I’m sorry, It’s not a nice story.” She tried to give him a smile. “It’s not a very nice thing to talk about and… It tends to scare people away.”

                Raphael could see her shoulder’s shuddering. “You can trust me. I am not going anywhere.” His clumsy hand moved and brushed her hair out of her face, er, tried to unsuccessfully.

                The woman half laughed as she fixed her hair herself and looked up at him, face wet. “Alright, but I warned you.”


	6. Chapter 6

                Raphael wasn’t sure if he was really ready to hear all of this. He could already feel anger boiling in his gut, hatred for whoever hurt her, but he didn’t let it show.  “Talk to me Jacquelyn.” He said softly.

                She hung her head. “I told you that my brother was the smart one. I um, I tended to get in trouble a lot. Anthony always told me I was too nice, but when you’re a waitress, you have to be nice. My entire salary was based on tips. I worked the late shift and a couple of guys would always come in drunk, they’d get really handsy. Normally my manager would kick them out but a few times they’d wait for me out in the parking lot.”  She sniffled a bit and shifted uncomfortably. “They’d get really physical, pin me against the car, try to force themselves on me… But Antony would always show up and the guys would run before they could do much damage.

                “But when this whole mess with Xanus happened and Anthony died, things got worse. Those black ninja things attacked me, but they had no intention of killing me it seemed. I woke up in my apartment after having the crap kicked out of me, naked with some masked man on top of me doing the unthinkable.” By now the tears were freely flowing down her face. “He wasn’t the first and he wasn’t the last! My first experience with a man was being raped by some masked creep that had a hand in killing my brother.” Her body was trembling. “I tried to fight back but, I guess I wasn’t even worth their time, they just left me there when they were done. It wasn’t until I started chasing them down in my van that they burned our apartment down and started taking me seriously, trying to actually kill me.”  She brought her blurry eyes up to Raphael’s finally. “All the scars are from what those monsters did to me when I couldn’t do anything back.”

                As she buried her face in her hands and sobbed Raph wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her against his chest. “I’m sorry.” He whispered against her hair. “But I promise, I won’t let anything ever happen to you again.” He wasn’t sure how he would keep that promise but he would damn sure try his hardest to make sure it was the truth. There was just something about the thought of this woman in trouble, the sight of her crying and the thought of her in pain that made his heart ache. He had never felt this before . Raph didn’t like it.

                Pulling her with him as he moved towards the wall he leaned against it and then slid down to a seat, holding the woman still as she sat between his legs. She was still crying softly as she leaned into him, obviously his pestering about her past wasn’t easy on her and now Raphael was starting to regret the decision. Letting out a sigh he decided to talk himself about some of the scars he had, the deep ones he didn’t like to remember.

                “I got into a really big fight with Leo once when we were still teenagers. We were visiting our friend April so I went up to the roof of her place to clear my head but while I was up there I was attacked by a bunch of the Foot. I was out numbered and eventually the massive amount of ninja caused the roof to collapse. I landed on the floor in the middle of a bunch of plywood and debris.” He traced the crack and missing chunk of his plastron on his upper chest from the fall. It was so old now that the jagged edges had been worn smooth and rounded. “It took me a few days to wake up. I couldn’t believe how worried everyone was…”

                The story had gotten Jack distracted enough she looked up, wiping at her face, she glanced from Raphael’s face to the crack he was messing with on his chest. But Raph continued.

                “I have lots of scars. Most are just from fights, most of them aren’t all that important.” He found one on his leg and traced it. “This is from a fight with the Shredder. Mikey was being an idiot and not paying attention; he backed himself into a corner. So I had to run in and save him. Got hit pretty bad.” He sighed and reached up, pulling off his mask he adjusted his eye patch with a frown. “Lost my eye fighting the Shredder. Right after Master Splinter died I…” His features flushed, embarrassed and more ashamed with the fact that he lost control and went looking for trouble. “I kinda went out looking for him. I’m pretty sure I killed him but I took quite a beating. I’m not real sure.” He tilted her head up, gently turning her chin. “We all have scars Jacquelyn. We can use them… use them as fuel for the future. I can train you, help you get stronger so you can use this anger and hatred in a… constructive way.” Did he really just say something like that? He was really starting to sound like Leo.

                The woman sat up straight and wiped at her face. “You can train me? To fight like you?”  She sniffled as she looked at him.

                Raph shrugged. “I’ll try. We have never trained a human before. But Master Splinter learned everything from a human so, it’s possible.” He felt himself trying to smile as he brushed some hair off her wet cheeks.

                Nodding, Jacquelyn relaxed a bit in his arms. “Okay, it’s a deal.”

                Raphael grinned. “Alright. Now, why don’t you get ready for bed.” He loosened his grip and let her scoot out of his arms so he could stand. His face tinted red for a moment but he tried to ignore it. Their close proximity had been for comfort, nothing more or uncouth. “I’ll go get you a pillow and a clean blanket.”  Walking down the hall to the laundry room he grabbed a poorly folded blanket from a shelf and a pillow and tucked them under his arm. He paused before he left, leaning against the door he took a deep breath. _What are you doing Raph…_ he asked himself. _Don’t get attached to this girl._ He took a deep breath and moved silently back to his room. “Here ya g-“ the words died in his throat as a smile slowly turned up the edges of his mouth.

                Jacquelyn was curled up on the small mattress, already sound asleep. Her face was still damp, as she laid there clinging to the mask that Raphael had left sitting on the edge. Shaking his head, the large mutant gently draped the blanket over the sleeping woman before he scooped her up into his strong arms. Carrying her across the room he laid her in his hammock, knowing that the swinging bed was much more comfortable than the bed that was almost the same as sleeping on the hard floor. Tucking the blanket around her, he let her hold onto his mask for now as he brushed some hair out of her face.

                “Goodnight Jacquelyn.” He whispered before turning and wondering over to the mattress and laying down himself. He grunted a few times as he tried to get comfortable before finally falling asleep himself.

 

                Meanwhile down the hall, Raphael’s brother was still at work with the young mutant that had landed on his table earlier that night. Donatello scratched his head as he looked at the blood sample under the microscope for the umpteenth time.

                “Your brother hates me doesn’t he?”

                The quiet voice caused him to lift his eyes, a bit surprised to be honest, to hear the young one speak. “Nonsense. Raph is just… a bit crude. He will lighten up I’m sure.” Donnie sighed and sat back on his stool. “It’s been a little tense around here. We are all on edge. Raph is on edge on the time but now instead of standing on a cliff side it’s like he’s teetering on a razor wire just waiting to fall off.”

                The one dubbed Antonello nodded. “So what happened? I mean… to make you guys so tense? Did you guys fight or something?”

                Donnie looked at him. “No….Well, yes. Partially.” He rolled his chair over to the side of the table Antonello was on. As he checked the needles the fed the other turtle medicine he spoke. “Our father died a while ago.”

                Antonello perked up. “You guys have a dad? You were born like this?” He seemed so interested, so intrigued by this new bit of information.

                “Not exactly.” He tried to explain. “Our father figure was a rat, mutated, the same as we are. He found us as infants in the sewer, covered in the mutagen responsible for our dramatic change from mere reptiles. He too then changed and took charge of us. Master Splinter, we called him, he came from Japan and was the pet of a master ninja. So now he taught us the secret art of ninjutsu.”

                “So I’m a mutant.”

                Donnie nodded.

                Antonello took a deep breath, his hands shaking slightly as he flexed his three fingers. “Okay… so, you never explained the fighting between you guys.”

                “Well, as we trained and grew, we got anxious. We didn’t like just staying put in our sewer home. We wanted to see the city. As ninja we were careful, but as teens we were not and others discovered our presence. A man known as the Shredder and his… minions the Foot Clan. Along with numerous others. They initially didn’t know of us until we discovered that they were stealing and and…”

                “crime. They were breaking the law.” Antonello tried to help him search for the words he seemed lost to find.

                “True. But its more than that. You see, because we are giant green turtles, humans aren’t exactly so keen on accepting us. Our methods of dispatching Shredder and his cohorts aren’t always kosher, but we do it all with good intent. We prevent crime, and we aid the people when we can. The means we do it by might not always be legal in the human’s eyes, but what we do is help them in the end. ”

                He received a nod and then a pause. “I’m no good at fighting.”

                “I believe Raphael plans on changing that.” Donnie stood and stretched, scratching at his head. “For now though, just relax and get some rest. I’m sure Raph will be terrorizing you in the morning.”  He yawned. “But the fighting between us, well, that took place when Splinter died and well we didn’t quite know how to handle that. The four of us are all so different and disagreed with one another on how to move on after his passing. Leo wanted one thing, Raph another, Mikey was just upset… It was just a mess…” He shook his head.  “Anyway It is getting late and you should rest. The bathroom is down the hall. Last door. I’ll be over there if you really need something.” He waved and crossed the room to a dark corner that held a bed that looked pristine. He plopped down on it and didn’t bother to move the blankets. He started to softly snore soon after.

                Antonello watched Donnie wonder off to his bed and fall asleep but he wasn’t tired just yet. He sat there, awkwardly looking around for a while before he finally decided to pull the needles out of his arm. Sliding off the table he made his way out towards the living room, not nearly as quiet as the brothers were. He saw the television still moving, images flashing across the screen of cartoon characters fighting and destroying things. As he limped over toward the couch the room stilled, the game paused and a small head poked up over the back of the couch to stare at him.

                Short messy black hair looked like it hadn’t seen a brush in days but her bright green eyes almost glowed in the dim room. “Do you have a name yet?” She quipped in a small voice.

                The turtle nearly fell over at the sudden face staring at him, his heart pounding like a jackhammer in his chest. “Don’t do that!” He sighed, trying to calm down.

                “Do what?” She asked, propping her elbows up on the back of the couch.

                “Scare me.” He shook his head and looked at her. “Who are you? I thought… Everyone here was a mutant or something.”

                Shadow shook her head this time. “I live here sometimes. With my Uncles.” She twirled around the cord of one of the controllers. “So who are you? Are you going to live here too?”

                “Well, uh… Raphael? I think that was his name… he uh, called me Antonello. I didn’t have a name.” He scratched his head as he looked at the small girl. “I didn’t have anywhere to go so I guess I’m staying but… How are they your uncles?”

                “Ant… I like that.” She beamed then paused as she crawled up on the back of the sofa to face him, having to crawl over Michelangelo’s sleeping form on the couch cushions. She scratched as her messy head before answering him. “Uncle Raph is my daddy’s best friend. They don’t see each other much anymore though. Daddy used to help them beat up people and rescue people.”

                The turtle stared at her for a moment before slowly nodding. “So your parents just let you stay with a bunch of giant turtles… That’s pretty cool I guess.” He glanced towards the clock on the wall. “It’s pretty late. Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

                She shrugged. “I’m always up the latest. You should be the one in bed. If I poked you I’m pretty sure you’d break.” She grinned.

                “You have a point kid.”

                Shadow frowned. “My name is Shadow. Not kid. And I have more authority than you. Just because you are a mutant and I’m not doesn’t mean squat.”

                “I-I didn’t mean-”

                “No. Shut up. You are here because Uncle Raph thinks that you can help fix things since Master Splinter died. That doesn’t just _give_ you any rights. You have to earn your place.”

                Antonello waved his hands, giving up. “Simmer down! I didn’t mean anything geeze!” He took a deep breath. “I know I need to earn my keep, how I’ll do that… I haven’t quite figured that much out yet.”

                The girl folded her arms. “Ant, you should go to bed. Raph doesn’t really go easy on people. If he plans on starting tomorrow you will be in rough shape.” With that last bit of blunt advice she slipped off the couch and wondered down the hall to the bedroom that belonged to Mikey and disappeared inside to sleep.

                The last being awake simple shook his head before turning around to limp back into Donnie’s lab to get to bed himself. “This whole family is weird.”  He mumbled.


	7. Chapter 7

                Raphael slowly opened his eye in the morning, grumbling to himself as he tried to stretch his achy muscles. This mattress was not nice to sleep on. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes Raphael looked over at the hammock. When it was empty his heart about stopped. Instantly on his feet he rushed over.

                “Jacquelyn?” He asked to the empty room, picking the blanket he felt an odd sting he didn’t recognize surging into his chest. Was that… Panic? Rushing out of his bedroom he grabbed his sai and headed towards the main room of his home to gather his brothers and their new turtle guest. They needed to find her!

 

                But the sight that greeted his eyes froze Raphael in his tracks. Mikey and Donatello were sitting at the dining table beside Antonello eating a proper breakfast from actual dishware on a set table. Shadow was clean, her hair brushed and a new outfit on her as she climbed on top of Donnie’s lap.

                Mikey looked over when he heard Raph approach. “Dude! I don’t know where you found this chick, but can we keep her?” He laughed, he had asked the same thing when they first met April.

                Hearing the refrigerator door close, Raphael’s eye looked across the room to find Jack moving about the kitchen and pulling fresh drinks out for the boys. She smiled across the room at him and he felt that panic vanish.

                “I was wondering when you would wake up.” She nodded to the last empty seat. “I’ll get you a plate.”

                Almost cautiously, Raphael sat down as she put a plate of eggs and bacon before him. “What is all this?” He asked softly.

                She grinned. “It’s breakfast, silly.” She got him a glass but paused. “Milk or orange juice?”

                “Orange Juice.” Raph picked up a fork and looked down at his plate and then around at the table at the other people all eating to their heart’s content. He took a bite as she set the glass down, surprised something that good could come from their kitchen. But about half way through his plate he realized there was nowhere for the woman to sit and eat. Abruptly standing, the rest of the group paused in their meal, Jack paused in her half cooking, half cleaning of the kitchen, to stare at him. “Have you eaten?” His eye was set on her.

                Everyone else’s’ gaze followed, expecting an answer.

                Her face turned red under the pressure. “Well I… No, I haven’t.”

                Clearing his plate away and moving from his spot he pointed. “Sit.” He left little room to argue and the woman obeyed. Setting his things aside, Raphael grabbed a plate, made sure it was clean and set it before her and added food to it. Only then did he start to eat again as he leaned against the counter. Jacquelyn stared down at the plate before her as the others started to eat once more. She poked at the yellow substance, frowning a bit before she took a small bite. Raphael watched her, concerned as she ate unusually slowly, her bites abnormally small.

                For the moment he wouldn’t say anything, but he wasn’t going to ignore it. The family members at the table scarfed down their breakfast. Mikey and Shadow jumped to their feet to rush off towards the couch.

                “Ah! You two!” Jack’s voice stopped the room. The two culprits frozen mid-stride. “Plates in the sink.” They turned around and willingly obeyed, much to Donnie and Raphael’s surprise.

                “Wow. I’ve never seen someone have such instant control over him.” Donatello looked at the woman. “Good for you. He just may have some hope yet.” He excused himself and deposited his own dish into the sink before returning to his room.

                With seats empty now, Raph sat down beside Jacquelyn. He glanced at her once before looking across the table at Antonello. The younger turtle still had a few bandages strapped to him, and Raphael could see him favoring his weak hand rather than his strong hand. He grunted. “Take another few days to rest up. You are going to need it before we start.”

                Antonello nodded before he pushed himself to his feet and limped over to the sink before heading over towards Donatello’s door.

                “Ant! Come play with us!” Shadow waved him over towards the couch.

                “Hold on!” He waved a hand before disappearing into Donnie’s room, for more meds most likely.

 

                With the others gone Raph turned back to the girl at his side still poking at her food. “Not hungry?” He asked before he shoved another bite in his own mouth.

                She shrugged. “I’m starving… I just can’t eat. Not a lot anyway.”

                Raphael paused and shifted in his seat to face her. Setting his fork down, he propped his head up. “Why exactly, can’t you eat the perfectly good eggs and bacon you’ve made us?”

                Bright eyes looked up at him. “I haven’t eaten real food in over a week.” She admitted.

                He nearly choked on the orange juice he was trying to drink. “What?” He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. “How could you not have eaten in over a week?” He pursed his lips together, trying not to get angry with her, but it was frustrating. She had starved herself? For what reason?! He let out a long breath and looked at her, trying to let the tension ease from the tight muscles in his shoulders.

                Jack recoiled a bit, easily seeing the near anger in his face. “I… I couldn’t help it!” She tried to explain. “I would see these kids in the shelters or on the streets… and what little money I did have I’d spend on them, or I’d end up giving all my food away to them.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I used my last few bucks on gas to get us up here. The tank’s empty now and I’m out of cash so… I’m pretty much stuck.” She shrugged.

Raphael sighed and shook his head. “You aren’t stuck.” He reached over and put a hand on hers for a moment before he pulled his back. “We are going to take care of you, don’t worry. And… Take your time with the uh… food thing. That’s one problem, I’m not really sure how to deal with.” He admitted, color tinting his cheeks.

                The woman smiled. “Thanks.” She said softly.

                “You don’t have to be so nervous. You did good this morning with the whole breakfast thing, but don’t feel like you have to do that all the time. We don’t expect you to do that… or anything really.” He pushed himself to his feet and took his plate to the sink. “I have some things I need to do and then… well, feel free to just do whatever you want. Explore the house, hang out, or something.” He stopped. “Just don’t leave.” He said a bit sharply. Honestly, he was scared for the woman if she was to leave. Who knew when the Shreader was going to return and if he did, Raph didn’t want Jacquelyn to get hurt.

                She took another bite and slowly nodded. “Okay.” Her brow was creased, a bit concerned by his stipulation but she said nothing.

                Raphael nodded and left, glancing once at the living room where Antonello had joined Shadow and Mikey on the sofa to play their video games. The trio was hooting and hollering at the screen and yelling at one another as they played and Raph disappeared down the hall. He went to the very last door and carefully slid open the old Japanese style entry before stepping inside. He took a deep nervous breath and slid the door closed behind him.

                The room was dark, small, on the wall opposite him hung two small rice paper scrolls in a mirror of Japanese art. One was simply a few kanji written down the length of paper that read Hamato Yoshi. The other piece of paper was an artistic rendition of Master Splinter that April had drawn after the rat had passed away. A small table, low to the floor was under the hanging scrolls, atop it sat a small tray and a long stick of incense.

                Kneeling down, Raphael pulled off his mask and laid it beside his legs as he leaned over and struck a match to light the incense. As the small orange light died and the thin trail of smoke twisted up into the air Raphael closed his eyes and hung his head. Fists clenched on his knees as his nostrils flared. “Master Splinter… I know… I know Leo is normally the one that does this, the one that come to you and talks and asks for things. But I… I don’t know what I am doing right now. I just...” He ran a hand over his face. “I feel like a kid again. I’m lost and confused and I just want to do what’s right. You always said to do what was right… But i…”He beat his hand against his head. “I always just act, jump in feet first, I never think. That’s Leo’s job but he’s not here. All I want to do is make you proud.” Raph nodded and grabbed his mask. “I _will_ make you proud dad.” He sat there silently for a long moment, memories of long ago conversations with the rat coming back to his mind. His eyes burned and he felt his chest ache as his grip on the mask in his hand tightened. “I know I’ve always tried to face things on my own. I don’t like seeking help, but… Our family is breaking. I can’t let our family fall apart and do nothing. It means everything to me. I just hope I don’t screw this up.”  Grabbing the stick of incense he snuffed it out on the plate and stood before exiting the small room.

                He could hear the water running in the kitchen and when he rounded the corner he wasn’t surprised to find Jacquelyn standing at the sink doing the dishes. The trio was still on the couch and that could only leave Donnie to be in his room.  Walking over to the couch Raphael smacked his little brother on the back of the head. “Mike, come ‘ere.”

                “Ow!” Mikey grabbed his head as he looked up at his brother. “What gives?” He rubbed the lump forming on his skull.

                Raph yanked the controller from his hand and tossed it to Antonello. “I need your help with something.” He glanced at the child. “Entertain the new guy Babyface.” He mussed up her hair before smacking Mikey once more.

                “Yes sir!” “Ouch! Okay!” Shadow and Michelangelo rang out in unison.

                The brothers walked down one of the halls in their home that led to just some closet space and Raphael stopped. He scratched his head and then put his hand against the wall feeling along the cold bricks and cinder blocks.

                “What are you doing?” Mikey asked with a pout.

                “The damn house is too small. We need more rooms.” He grunted as started to get frustrated, unable to think of how to construct the actual rooms. “Fuck.” He punched the wall, scrapping skin off his knuckles and cracking some of the bricks.

                “Is there a reason you are destroying the wall?”

                Raphael whipped around and looked at his other brother. “Donnie… I uh. We need to make more rooms.” He blurted.

                “Of course we do. But you can’t punch your way to them.” He waved them over to his room where he already had the floor plans for their home laid out on his table. The tech-head started spitting out words Raphael barely comprehended. Things about where they needed to knock down a wall, build new ones, construct another bathroom potentially, gather materials, and get more furniture. By the time Raphael and Mikey were done with their barrage of questions and they had an actual game plan down, it was well into the evening.

 

                As the three walked out into the living room Raphael barked out the last order. “Alright, you guys go get the materials from the surface, I’ll start knocking things down.”

                Donnie and Mike looked at one another. It wasn’t like him to give up the chance to go top side but they shrugged and grabbed their weapons before soundlessly slipping out. Turning to the room, Raphael found Ant and Shadow still at their game but Jack was nowhere to be found. He walked over to the couch, about to say something but shut his mouth instead. Across the room on the love seat he saw the woman curled up on her side, sleeping. Crossing the room Raphael stared down at her for a moment before he carefully scooped her up into his solid green arms. Jacquelyn didn’t stir as she turned into the mutant turtle, curling into him as he carried her down the hall. Raphael swallowed hard as he felt heat creeping up his neck and face while the sleeping woman moved in his grip. He tried not to make his hold on her seem like it was anything but him trying to be helpful. Nudging his bedroom door open with his foot he walked in the dark and easily found his hammock. Laying her down with care he pulled the sheet up over her and turned to leave.

                A small hand found his and stopped him.

                “Where are you going?” Her small sleepy voice asked as she rubbed at her eyes with her free hand.

                Raphael closed his eye for a moment and tried to fight the heat that he couldn’t stop from spreading through his chest. Turning he looked back down at her. “I’m going to fix the place up. Get you and the kid rooms.”

                She yawned. “I don’t need a room. I like it here.” She mumbled.

                That made his heart nearly stop. He looked at her and blinked a few times, his mouth going dry. It was nice that she liked staying with him, he liked hearing that. But…  “I don’t uh, want you to feel trapped in here. I’ll make you a room. And you can use it if you want. If not, that’s up to you.”

                Her hand slipped off of his as she started to drift back to sleep. “I don’t feel trapped with you. I like being…”

                He stood there, waiting for her to say something else but she was already asleep. Sighing, Raphael lifted her hand and put it under the blanket before walking out of his room and shutting the door. _What are you thinking?_ He asked himself _You are acting like a child. She is just a woman, you shouldn’t be getting so worked up about every little thing…_ Yet he found himself staring at the door.

                Grunting he shook his head and walked across the living room to where they planned on building the other hallway extension. There was another abandoned part of the subway station over there so it was a perfect area to add more. Raphael took a few breaths and grabbed the sledge hammer from the stack of tools Donnie had provided. In Raphael’s hands it made quick work of the first part of the wall. Bricks and rebar crumbled as Raphael knocked down the wall that would eventually be refined and stabilized. He looked around the dark dank area and frowned. This was a lot more work than he was expecting. But he was determined, he kept at the work until he brothers returned with wood and other materials they had salvaged from the surface as well as other materials they had to get Casey to go buy for them.

                “Casey says Hi by the way.” Mikey told him as he set down his arm full of bags.

                Raph glared over. “Tch.” Was all he managed to say, still bitter about the last thing the man had said to him.

                “I forgot to mention why we were building the new rooms though so he doesn’t know about your girlfriend.” Mikey went on. “He’d probably be all excited to hear about her if he knew you had a chika living with you.”

                “Jacquelyn is not my girlfriend.” Raph snapped. “I’m just helping her out.”

                The orange wearing one held up his hands. “Yeah sure. Whatever.” He teased.

                The three brothers worked all through the night. Donnie instructed them on how things should go as much as he could until Raphael would get pissed and just do it his way. Mikey helped between his playing. Of course Raphael just did most of the work himself and prayed it was right. They passed out on the floor amongst the tools and supplies, their job not even half way done around dawn.  Raphael was exhausted and didn’t really care where he slept at that point. 


	8. Chapter 8

                “Who the hell are you?”

                Jacquelyn bolted upright in the hammock, the swinging bed almost toppling over. “Huh?” was the only word she managed to mutter as she brushed her tangled locks out of her face and tried to focus on the feminine face glaring at her.

                Pale green skin, dark brown eyes and matching brown hair pulled back into a pony tail. The female was clearly not a human, but also clearly not a turtle. “I’ll ask you again. Who the hell are you? And why are you in Raphael’s bed?”  Her hand lashed out and flipped the smaller human out of the hammock.

                Landing in a heap on the floor, Jack let out a small cry when her weight landed on her sore wrist. She shifted to a seated position and stared up at what she realized was a mutated lizard. “My name is Jack. Who are you?”

                “Why are you in Raph’s room?” Mona asked instead of answering the question. Her long tail twitched as she put her hands on her hips.

                Getting to her feet she brushed her pants off and looked up at the other female. “Why are you?” If this chick was going to play hardball, Jack could play it right back.

                Mona Lisa’s eyebrow twitched. “Stop being a bitch and just answer the question.” She took a step forward, smirking when the human backed up into the wall.

                Her features burned red as she crossed her arms. “I’m staying here.” She answered. “This is where I’ve been sleeping the past few nights.”

                She rolled her eyes. “Gawd, what the hell is he thinking.” She whirled around and stormed out. “Raph! Raphael! Where the Hell are yo-” her words died in her throat when she caught sight of the green turtle passed out on the couch.  “Leo!” Without a second thought she vaulted herself over the back of the sofa and landed on him, wrapping her arms around his neck and planting her lips on his.

                Antonello’s eyes snapped open as a burst of pain shot through his arm and shoulder. He nearly shouted when his mouth was covered by someone else’s. Their brown eyes locked and Mona scrambled away from Ant, both of their faces now red. She jumped to her feet, stammering as she pointed at him. “What the hell?!” She nearly screamed. “You aren’t Leo!”

                “Uh…. No.” He said simply.

                She slapped him leaving a nice red hand print on his cheek. “How dare you trick me like that!” She blamed him, even though it was her fault.

                Raphael was rubbing his face as he walked into the living room. “What the hell is going on in here?” He yawned.

                “Who the hell is this?” Mona pointed at the turtle she had just assaulted. “And that girl in your room?”

                “That’s none of your business Mona. Now stop molesting the kid and tell me what ya want.” He smirked, it wasn’t often she was in such a fluster.

                She stomped over to him, her face still red and angry. “Where is Leo?” She demanded, brown bangs falling into her face.

                “He’s still down south doing his thing.”

                “I told you to bring him home!”

                Raphael frowned. “I’m not your errand boy.” He snapped. “I went down there and found him. We talked. I left. He will come home when he damn well pleases.” His eyes shifted and he saw Jacquelyn slowly walking out of his bedroom, holding his splinted arm awkwardly. He pointed, his eyes snapping back to Mona Lisa. “What the hell happened to her?”               

                She scoffed. “Nothing.”

                In an instant Raphael was in her face. “What. Did. You. Do.” He bit off every word, his body twitching to grab hold of the weapons not on his belt but across the room on the table. Instead he would have to make due with some other form of injury; not a problem. But he restrained himself for now.

                His brothers were finally waking and walking into the room to see the situation. “Raph! What are you doing man?” Mikey ran over and tried to get between them, one hand on his brother’s chest, the other on Mona’s shoulder.

                “She needs to leave.” He grunted and turned to walk away.

                “Fuck you.” The lizard snapped back. “Soon you won’t be able to just send me away Raphael!”

                That stopped him. Eyes ablaze he turned back around and looked her hard in the eye. “There is no way in hell I’m letting ya move in here. No. Fucking. Way.” His still bandaged arm shot up and pointed to the door. “Now out!”

                She flipped her hair and stormed out, pausing briefly at the door. “Tell leo that I need to talk to him when he gets back.”

                “OUT!”

                The door slammed and the room fell silent. Raphael stood there his chest heaving as he tried to swallow down his anger. He wanted to check on Jacquelyn and see what more had happened to her arm, but his anger at Mona Lisa could make him testy to say the least. He didn’t want to say anything wrong to her.

                Mikey just shook his head and joined Donnie in the kitchen as the smartest one in the room prepared breakfast. Antonello slowly scooted off the couch, where he had been frozen and hurried over to the kitchen. “Who was that chick?” he whispered. “And why did she kiss me?”

                “We will explain it later.” Donatello told him as he started to burn some pancakes.

 

                Raphael closed his eyes briefly as he took a deep breath. _Keep it together…_ He opened his eyes and walked over to the human still standing in the hall looking at him. “Are you okay?” He asked, each word came out with direct intent, carefully spoken.

                The woman nodded. “It’s fine really. I just landed on it weird.”

                He nodded, looking down at her and the splint. “You should ice it. Do some stretches. I’d help you but, I’m still helping the guys build the new rooms for ya- you… And the kid.” He almost slipped up. Raphael didn’t like to let the others know. It was his little secret with April. When Casey had left and gone to California she had taken it pretty hard, so did he. They spent a lot of time together and April would practice her broadcasts, Raph of course, the clumsy cameraman. But after hearing himself on camera one day, and hearing how… uneducated he sounded. He wanted to change it a bit. It wasn’t that he was stupid. He just used a lot of slang, and his thick city accent didn’t help it. So April tutored him. It was slow and a lot harder than the physical training he was used to, but eventually he got it down to where he was used to speaking like a normal being. But when he was tired or angry he tended to slip up.

                Jacquelyn nodded. “I’ll be fine on my own. No worries.” She shifted her weight to her other foot, her pale hair falling loose from behind her ears. “I feel bad, you guys doing all this work, just for me.”

                “Don’t.” He shook his head. “This is good for us.”

                She offered him a small smile. “Okay.”

                Raphael turned away from her and looked at his brothers. “Alright you two. Enough with the gossip… Back to work.”  They walked back to the hole they had knocked in the wall and within a few moments the home was filled with the sound of banging and arguing as they worked out what they were doing yet again.

                Jack made her way to the fridge and opened the freezer, pulling out some ice and wrapping it in a towel before resting it on her splint as she leaned on the counter.

                “So what are you going to do all day?”

                She jumped, eyes looking over to the turtle left sitting at the table. Somehow she hadn’t noticed him sitting there. “Oh… I uh, was going to go to the training room I guess.” She said quietly.

                “You do this ninja stuff too?” He looked surprised, his features a little red. The pair hadn’t really spoken much since he nearly choked her when he first woke up.

                Shaking her head she laughed a bit. “No not that. I um, did a bit of gymnastics back in the day. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get back into some practice if I wanted Raphael to train me.”

                “Mind if I tag along? I can’t do much but… the uh… Shadow? She isn’t here so I can’t get the game working.”

                Jack looked around and was surprised to not find the girl around anywhere. It was possible she was still sleeping. “Yeah, you can come I guess…” She started to walk back towards the hall. She gestured towards the training room. “I need to change.” She said before slipping back into Raph’s room.  After rummaging through her things, she found a pair of tight athletic pants and a sports bra, but she was out of clean shirts. Nothing but one spare clean one to wear afterwards. Changing into the workout pants and sports bra, she looked down at herself, red faced and sighed. Back in the day when she practiced gymnastics at the gym, she was used to dressing like this. But then she was surrounded by woman, in a gym full of other women. Here, she was the only female. And she was still self-conscious being so exposed.

                There wasn’t much of a choice so she walked back over to the training room where she found Antonello trying to do some stretches and push-ups but failing when he pushed himself too far. She winced when he fell. But when the turtle looked up at her he froze. “Wow.”

                She paused. “What?” She stopped and looked down at herself.

                “Nothing you just look good.”

                Jack wrinkled her nose and shook her head. She didn’t really want to think about how she looked. Reaching up she pulled her long hair back into a pony tail before she tossed the ice bag aside. The woman started out with some basic stretches, arms, legs, back… but the more she moved and the more she loosened up the more her body started to remember its training. Her body could fold in half, her nose touched her shins and when she bent the opposite way, she could grab her ankles and pull her head towards her feet and nearly do the same thing. Her splits were flawless in all directions. She mixed in some unique yoga poses to help strengthen her balance as she practiced.

                All Ant could do was stare. As he watched her move the woman contorted her body and stretched it, pressing herself into odd poses that almost seemed inhuman.

                After a while her skin was coated in a glisten of sweat as she pushed her muscles to work. The last thing she wanted to try again was her handstands and her handstand pushups. But with her wrist…

                “Screw this.” She ripped off the splint and tossed it to the floor. Looking down at her hand, it wasn’t swollen any more, but she could still see the old scars she had inflicted on herself across her pale skin. She frowned but ignored them. She couldn’t erase them anyway. Jack rolled her wrist a few times gently to try and get the bone and ligaments moving again. It didn’t hurt at the moment. So she’d give it a go. Putting her hands on the ground she found a sturdy base and carefully kicked her legs up into the air. So far so good.

 

                But it didn’t last long. Jacquelyn felt a twinge of pain in her wrist that made her body waiver just as the door opened.

                “Whoa…” Mikey’s voice reached her ears.

                Her elbow buckled and the woman started to fall over. But before she even had a chance to hurt herself further, there was a strong hand on her side and arm under her, supporting her as she was caught. Jack opened her eyes and looked up at Raphael. He was in a near split holding her a few inches off the ground.

                She smiled a bit nervously, her features turning red. “Nice catch.”

                “Nice hand stand.” He eased her up to her feet as he stood as well. “You didn’t tell me you could stuff like this.” He went to the corner and grabbed her a bottle of water.

                Shrugging Jack wiped off her forehead. “It is nothing special and I haven’t done it in a while. I was never that good anyway.”

                “You shouldn’t say that!” Mikey interjected as he rushed over. “Master Splinter always said that, no one is good or bad at something, we all just have our own skills. Our dedication and heart is what makes us great.” He scratched his head. “I think that came out wrong….” But his eyes found the stripes on her wrist and he gently took her small hand and pulled it away from her stomach, flipping her palm up to examine the skin that had been previously hidden under the splint. “What’s this?” He asked innocently.

                The crisscrossing marks from a razorblade were ugly reminders of her brother’s death. When she had been so depressed and felt so alone she didn’t know what to do. And after being attacked, she felt even worse so suicide seemed like the only way out. Of course she knew the ridiculousness of that thought now, but she couldn’t erase the memory, or the scars.

                “They are scars, Mikey.” She tried to pull her arm back before Raphael saw, but it was too late. She looked up at him and saw something in his eyes. A shadow of something that almost looked like pain and fear shifted over his gaze before the normal grumpiness took over.

                “Let her be Mike.” Raph waved him away. “Go get her some more Ice or somethin’ if ya want to be useful.”  He waited for his brother to leave before he walked out without a word and went to his bed room leaving Jack and Ant alone.

                Jack glanced to the other turtle once before she hurried after Raphael. She pushed the bedroom door open to find Raph setting his mask and sai down on the night stand. “Raph? Are you alright?” She asked softly.

                “Just peachy.” He said a bit harshly.

                The woman jumped, and frowned as she let out a breath. “Talk to me Raph.” She pressed as she took a step into the room.

                The turtle climbed into his hammock and flicked off the lights. “I said I’m fine.”  He snapped.

                Her bare feet carried her around to the other side of the room where she ducked under the  hammock to face him. She forced him to look at her, for once her expression serious and stern. “Stop it.” She jerked the blanket off of him. “I don’t care if you are upset with me. Or in a mood or whatever, but don’t you dare lie to me. Tell me what is on your mind. Tell me what I’ve done to piss you off.”  Her bright eyes locked on his in the dark.

                Raphael sat up and looked her hard in the face. “You know why I’m pissed? Because you would think that killin’ yourself is easier than living.” He grabbed her hand and flipped it over, making her wince. “That you would want to just give up something so precious as life. That’s why I’m pissed.” He shoved her hand back at her, his face heated and red with anger, both at her and himself. He knew he didn’t want to be treating her like this but he just didn’t know how else to say these things to her.

                Her brows creased. “I told you about what I went through. I didn’t know how to deal with all that alone! Yes… It was stupid. I tried to kill myself because I didn’t know how to deal with being abused and violated all on my own.” Tears were welling in her eyes. “I know how stupid it was, how angry my brother would be now. I don’t need _you_ telling me that! What I really need is a friend who isn’t going to be bitter about my past mistakes.” She ducked under his hammock and wiped at her eyes as she headed for the door.

                _Shit._ Raphael rolled out of his bed. “Jacquelyn wait!” He called as he groped in the darkness for her. His hand landed on her soft shoulder but she shrugged him off, much to his surprise and hurt. He felt that odd sting of pain in his chest.

                “Don’t. I really don’t need you to criticize me for this…” He could hear her trying to hold back tears as she grabbed a pillow. “I’ll go sleep in the living room.”

                He grabbed her hand and stopped her. “You aren’t going anywhere.” He said softly. Closing his eye he let out a long breath as he turned her around and struggled with the next words. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t like the thought of someone like you ending your life. It’s a beautiful thing and it should be put on display, not snuffed out.” Raphael pulled her closer, slowly wrapping his arms around her. “I’m not mad at you, just the situation you were put in that led to this. Okay?”

                The woman nodded but now she was quietly sniffling, trying to fight off the tears unsuccessfully.

                “Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Raphael scooped her up into his arms and carried her over to the hammock. Setting her in the bed he picked the blanket up off the floor and was ready to drape it on her when the woman sat up.

                Wiping at her face she grabbed his hand and stopped him. “Will you lay with me?”

                Heat burned his cheeks and neck as he looked at her. “What?”

                “I’ll scoot over or something… just… Lay with me. Please? I feel better when you are here.” She asked him.

                “I….”Raphael didn’t want to deny her request but, it was still new and strange being so close and connected with her. Not that he didn’t enjoy the few moments that they shared. Easing himself into a seat beside her, he bit his tongue and just grabbed her, moving Jack as he moved; it was easier than trying to dance and be so shy about it all. He laid down and pulled the woman up onto his chest, his heart was racing, beating against his shell like a hammer he was afraid she’d hear it. This was the easiest way for the both of them to lay in his hammock, he figured so, it’d have to do. He just hoped Jack didn’t mind.

                Raph made sure the edges of the fabric around them were up high enough to keep her in before he pulled the small blanket up over her and gently started to rock them with his free foot.  Jacquelyn rested her head in the crook of his neck, against his warm skin before the parts of his shell formed. For a little while her fingers traced the cuts and gouges and cracks in his plastron but it wasn’t long until she fell asleep.

                The turtle holding her couldn’t fall asleep that easily, his heart was still racing even though he was well aware of her slowed and steady breathing. A big hand reached up and gently moved hair from her face so he could try and see her but it was all moot. She was lying of the side with his missing eye.  Yet he found his other hand gently stroking the patch of soft skin it was on top of and he had to force himself to stop. Jack was not his girl. She wasn’t going to be. These plagues of emotions and feelings were just torments he had to learn to bear. After all, he was a giant turtle, she’d never share in a similar feeling…right?


	9. Chapter 9

                Raphael laid there awake for hours. Something about just having the woman so close, wrapped in his arms, set him on edge. He could feel her warm breath every few seconds on his neck as she breathed her lips just a few centimeters away from his throbbing veins. She shifted in her sleep and snuggled into him, finding refuge in his warmth but it only brought him more torment.

                He couldn’t do this. Ignore the feelings this long. He was never good at that. It was what always got him in trouble. He spoke without thinking, acted first and asked questions later. He wasn’t good at this whole, hiding how he felt thing. But Jacquelyn was human and he wasn’t sure why he felt this way, why she made his heart race or why he wanted to just drop everything to just jump to her aid and spend all his time on her. Was this normal? Was this how Leo felt about Mona Lisa? But Mona Lisa was at least like them… Jack was human; she would never return these feelings. To her, he would always be some deformed monster.

                It hit him like one of Leo’s kicks to the gut.

 

                As carefully as he could Raphael slid himself out from under the woman and scooted himself out of the hammock. He made sure to steady the bed, not letting it swing too much as he climbed out and onto the floor. Standing there looking down at her, he caught the glisten on her cheeks in the dim light of the old tear stains from their argument. He fought with people a lot. Especially recently. But seeing the stains on her cheeks made a ball of guilt drop in his stomach, bile crawling up the back of his throat made him almost want to puke. She deserved better than this.

                After adjusting the blanket, Raphael grabbed his things from the night stand and walked out into his home. No one else was awake. Mikey was surprisingly in his room instead of on the couch. Donnie in his room and Ant was left with the sofa. Since Raph couldn’t seem to get his mind to calm down he went over to the unfinished hall way to see if there was anything that he could do.

                The turtle worked in silence as he hefted up the two by fours that would frame the new rooms and put them into place. He grunted softly as he moved piles of debris and rearranged things into so semblance of order and a few hours later there was something that finally looked like two rooms and a hallway. Raph wiped a drop of sweat from his eyebrow as he leaned back and stretched. He grabbed a hammer and started to nail the support beams into place, each one only taking one hit to go in. He didn’t really want to be too loud and wake everyone up anyway… not that he really thought about that, but it may have crossed his mind at one point.

                “What are you doing?”

                He paused, setting the hammer down as he glanced over his shoulder at the little girl behind him. But what surprised him more with the well-built man standing behind her. Instead of answering the girl’s question, a glare crossed Raphael’s face and he turned back to continue doing his work.

                “Aw come on man, don’t ignore my kid.” Casey chided, but he was smirking, you could hear it in his voice.

                “Why not?” Raph snapped. “You do it all the time.” The hammer smacked down on another nail. “I see her more than you do. When was the last time you ever played a game with her?”

                Casey scowled. “Hey now… Don’t tell me how to raise my kid!” He got in Raph’s face and the two started yelling at each other, poking one another in the chest as they vented. Raph about being left behind, Casey about his marital problems. They both had been neglecting their friendship in different ways.

                By the time Jack had stumbled out of the bedroom to see what the ruckus was about, Mikey, Donnie and Antonello were already awake. Lined up and watching the show Mikey and Shadow were munching on a bag of Cheetos as they watched the two meat heads fight.

                “Just in time for the real show.” Mikey grinned at her just as Casey tried to put Raphael in a headlock.

                Instantly the pair was on the floor rolling around in flying arms and feet. The human was at a severe disadvantage. He had a background in brawling but it was no match for Raph’s long history of martial arts. Punches were flying, landing, as were the kicks. Rolling her eyes Jack walked towards them.

                “Boys!”  She shouted, but they either didn’t hear her or ignored her.

                They tumbled and got so close to her at one point Donatello had to pull her out of the way or else she would have gotten punched. It surprised her, somewhat, that Raph would accidently hurt her, but then again, it didn’t. He was so worked up anything he’d do right now wouldn’t really surprise her. When she started to see smears of blood on the floor she had to stop it.

                “That is enough!” The woman jumped into the middle, doing her best to push the two apart.

                It wasn’t the smartest idea because the last thing she saw was a green fist flying towards her face before she squeezed her eyes shut.

               

                The room froze. Jack cracked an eye open and let out the breath she was holding when she saw Raph’s fist just a few centimeters away from her nose. Her body relaxed and she put her hand on her racing heart.

                “Holy shit!” His arms wrapped around her and pulled her against his warm chest. “What the hell were ya thinking?”  He whispered to her. “I could have killed you.” There was genuine fear in his voice, something, she hadn’t heard from him, something she didn’t even hear when she had woken him up when they first met.

                Casey sat there and wiped a drop of blood off his chin. “Who the hell is this?” He asked, the anger vanished from his voice, now replaced by complete curiosity.

                “I told you! That’s Jack!” Shadow piped in from the side lines.

                “You never said she was a chick.”

                With a red face Raphael let the woman go and scooted back a bit. Getting to his feet he offered Jack a hand up first before he extended a bloody hand down to Casey to help his friend up. “Casey, this is Jacquelyn, Jacquelyn, Casey. He’s Shadow’s old man.”

                “Nice to meet you.” Jack gave him a small smile before turning back to Raph and frowning. “You really shouldn’t be fighting. Either of you.” She shot Casey a glance when she heard him start to snicker behind her. “Now what’s going on? It’s four in the morning!”

                Both of them looked away from each other and from her.

                She shook her head. “Really? Nothing.” She sighed and ran a hand over her face. “Fine then. Pummel each other to death. I’m not going to stop you.” She grabbed shadow’s hand. “Come on sweetie, I’ll braid you hair like I promised.”

                “Awesome!” The girl hopped off her uncle’s lap and bounced alongside the woman as they walked towards the living room.

                Casey watched his daughter skip after the stranger much like he wished she’d skip after her step-mom. He looked back to Raphael. “So, you finally found yourself a girl?” He asked with a bloody grin.

                “Heh.” Raph didn’t sound too cheery. “I wish.”  He shot a glance to his brothers and the new kid and they scattered. Motioning towards the kitchen the Casey led the way and Raph pulled out an ice pack for him as the human fell into one of the chairs. “So what are you doing down here anyway?”

                “Herfmm merf serrr de-”

                “Move the ice pack, I can’t hear you numb-nuts.” Raph shook his head.

                Casey moved the frozen peas off of his nose and mouth. “Hey, does a guy have to announce every time he wants to come visit his best bud?”

                “One, you hate the sewer. It takes a threat and a half to get you down here. Two, you haven’t been down here in months. Three… The last time we spoke… well, I wasn’t too happy with you.” Raph sat on the counter, staunching his own bleeding lip with a dish towel.

                The man sighed and hung his head, pressing the frosty bag to his bruising skin. “Yeah I know. I.. I’ve been an ass lately. I haven’t been nearly as good of a friend, or husband as I should.” He scratched his head. “I lost my job at the factory and haven’t had any luck finding a new one. I spend all my time at home with C.J. while April works… I feel like a failure of a man.”

                “Dude you’re not a failure.”  Raph understood, and he felt his animosity subsiding. “We all have setbacks, you’ll bounce back. Maybe you should break out the old hockey mask and we can go beat in some heads. What do ya say?” He grinned.

                “Sounds like a grea-”

                An ear piercing scream tore through the house. Raphael was on his feet and running towards the living room, Casey close behind. The sight that they found, surprised them both.  Jack had her face buried in Ant’s chest, the young turtle standing there rather clueless. Shadow was sitting on the sofa, her hair only half done, a frown on her face.

                Raphael’s chest tightened as he approached the woman clinging to the other turtle. “Jacquelyn?” He asked softly.

                Before he could even finish her name she turned around and latched onto him. It was a bit of a surprise but Raph put his arms around her and tried to shush her and calm her down.

                “What happened?” Casey looked from his daughter to the turtle he now realized wasn’t one of the brothers.

                Antonello shrugged. “I have no idea! We were just watching some TV and braiding some hair.” He was worked up and confused, his hands moving about as he spoke, much like Mikey did. “And then all of the sudden she just jumped up and screamed.”

                “She was looking at the man on TV.” Shadow added as she looked up at her dad. “I think he scared her.” She reached over and the battered man picked her up.

                Raphael carefully peeled her away from his chest, brushing the hair out of her face. “Jacquelyn, what’s going on?”

                “That bastard was wearing my necklace!” She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears as a shaking hand pointed at the television. “ _My_ necklace!”

                They all looked at the commercial displayed on screen, confused. “You have to be a little bit more specific.” Raph tried to be gentle with his words, but he wasn’t used to this, however… it came a bit easier with her.

                “That man… he was from Xanus Pharmaceuticals. Speaking about their new facility.” She wiped at her face. “And he was wearing the pendant I got Anthony last year for his birthday.” She sniffled a bit. “He never took it off.”

                Raph’s grip on her shoulders tightened a bit, reassuringly, as he looked back to the television. “It’ll be okay.” He reached over and clicked off the screen before leading her out of the room.  He glanced at Casey, his gaze a bit like begging for help but the man was about as clueless as he was. They didn’t know how to deal with distraught women. He carefully sat her down at the table and turned to the highest shelf.

                Pulling down a dusty tea pot and a few cups he felt that pain sat the loss of his father figure. But he ignored it. Washing it all off, he put some water on and started to prepare some of Master Splinter’s favorite tea.

                “I haven’t seen that in a while.” Mikey smiled as he pulled a seat up next to Jack and rubbed her shoulder a bit comfortingly. “Master Splinter’s tea fixes everything.” He grinned.

                Even Donatello came and joined them at the table.

 

                The small group sat around and sipped on tea and shared stories about the old rat, happy stories that the brothers hoped would get the woman’s mind off of her sad past. Even Casey had a few stories he could add. They joked and laughed for a good while, until the woman herself was laughing at their antics. Mikey and Donatello doing their best impersonations of each other, their brother Leo, April and of course Master Splinter. But in the midst of it all, Raphael noticed one of them had vanished. Antonello.

                Excusing himself Raph quietly got to his feet, letting his brother entertain Jack for the moment while he went to find the other turtle. The living room was empty, as were the bedrooms and training room. Raph walked out into the sewer tunnels and found Ant sitting on a ledge looking up through one of the drain grates.

                “You okay kid?” Raph asked as he leaned against the cold wall next to him.

                He shrugged.

                Raph smacked him on the back of the head. “Don’t give me that crap.”

                Ant looked up at him a bit shocked, but Raph simply shrugged in return. He sighed. “I don’t know. I just feel so… out of place.” He rubbed his face before staring down at his hand. “I don’t remember anything. The first thing I remember was waking up in the back of that van. I just feel like I don’t belong anywhere, I have no family, no home, nothing!”

                Raphael leaned over and got in his face. “Listen here kid. You ain’t alone. Not, anymore. Now, we have work to do around here, and I plan on getting you into better shape than my youngest brother over there so you better get ready.” He poked him hard in the chest as an evil looking smirk crossed his face. “Starting tomorrow, you aren’t going to eat, sleep, or take a piss without my say so, you got me? I am going to turn you into the best damn ninja we got.”

                The kid’s eyebrow twitched, his cocky teenaged attitude was starting to come out. “Yeah whatever. Don’t do me any favors.”

                Raphael grabbed his finger and twisted it back until the kid was nearly screaming and on the ground. “Don’t give me any lip kid. From here on in, I’m in charge of you.” He pulled the yellow mask Jack had made from his belt. “You want to belong somewhere… You will earn this.” Raph let him go and helped him back to his feet.

                Antonello glared up at him.

                “I’m a hard ass, what can I say. But I’m not training you alone.  I’m not going easy on Jacquelyn. You can do more, simply because you are a guy, and a turtle… That much I know. But don’t think I’ll be treating her any differently.” He looked down at him. “But I will be expecting more from you.”

 

                Making their way inside the pair rejoined the others at the table where they were still having a good time. It made Raphael feel better, seeing Jack with a smile on her face. He couldn’t rid himself of that sick feeling in his gut when he saw those tears rolling down her cheeks.

                So everyone stayed there around the table for the rest of the night just relaxing and talking. Eventually Casey ordered them some pizzas and Jack learned how much giant turtles loved the food. And Ant discovered his new favorite food. It was quite a sight. 


	10. Chapter 10

                “Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Raphael shouted at them.

 

                It had been two months since Antonello and Jacquelyn had come and moved into the sewer with the brothers. Leo still hadn’t returned from his trip down south, but the brothers had finished building the extension onto their home and things were running almost like they used to back in the day when they were teenagers.

                Antonello had moved into his room. Jack had cleaned up the living room, and with Raphael’s persuasion Mikey had moved back into his room… most nights. Jack however spent her nights divided. She had a nice simple little room made up for her. But often struggling to fall asleep on her own, she would find comfort in crawling into bed with Raphael.  Raph on the other hand, had a habit of losing sleep when the woman wasn’t nearby. He’d wake up constantly just to walk to the other side of the house to check on her. Numerous times passing out, against her door.

 

                The turtles and Jack were all gathered in the training room. All balanced on their hands, well one of them. Doing one handed hand stand pushups. Jacquelyn was still on two hands, doing her best to keep up with the boys that were well past her in skill. Even Ant had advanced in leaps and bounds.

                Sweat dripped into her eye as she grit her teeth and lowered herself down again before pushing herself up. Raphael was next to her doing the same exact things the boys on her other side were. But these things all seemed far too easy for him. She always caught him training by himself, lifting weights that weighed four times what anyone else did.

                Raph caught Ant lagging. “Ant! Ten ninja hops! Now!”  He smiled when the kid started to grumble. “And it’ll be an extra five every time I hear you.”

                So the youngest turtle started doing a series of tumbles and jumps but he had to land with expert precision to be silent like all ninja should. Antonello landed and the floorboard creaked.

                “Five more!” Raph shouted.

                “Shit.” Ant mumbled under his breath as he continued.

                Jacquelyn breathed as watched Mikey goof off and go up onto his fingers to do his push ups. His raw talent was envious. He just saw everything as a game.  The woman looked back ahead and shifted her weight. She could do this one handed thing. She could. Shifting her balance she slowly pulled her one hand up away from the floor. Her small lean body waivered for a moment before she held her balance. As soon as she tried to do the push up however her balance was lost and she fell over. Hitting Mikey who hit Donnie who hit Ant. They all ended up in a heap on the floor, a tangled pile of limbs and shells.

                Raph shook his head as he got to his feet. “That’s it today guys. Make sure you eat something good. Not just pizza!” He shot a look towards Mikey and Ant.

                “I’m going to stay here and train some more.” Jack said, sweaty and panting for breath.

                Raph sighed and shook his head. “Don’t work too hard.” He watched the boys file out of the room as Jacquelyn got back to work. His gaze fell back to her, focusing in on a drop of sweat that was slowly dripping down her neck and over her collar bone, heading towards the low line of the sports bra she was wearing as a top.

                “What are you staring at?” She pursed her lips as she paused to ask him.

                Raph forced himself to blink. “Nothing.” Turning he rushed to catch up to his brothers, and try to forget what he had just seen. The heat in his face and the hammering in his chest however made it a bit difficult. Walking into the kitchen he found Mikey and Ant already raiding the fridge and making a mess Jack would no doubt be cleaning later. Nothing new there; he simply rolled his eyes. Donnie had managed to snag himself some food and was slinking back into his tech cave.

                “Don! Wait up!” Raph called after him, following his younger brother into his room, closing the door behind him.

                The one clad in purple let out a dramatic sigh. “What now Raph? I have work to do. You know, to earn us money. All of our things don’t just come for free.” He cracked his neck.  “You have been working us ragged, even Leo would be impressed.”

                Raphael scowled. “Look I need some help.” It was the first time the words came so easily to the turtle but it was the first time he felt so clueless. Even his meditation session the previous night left him with no answers.

                Donnie blinked. “Help? With what?”

                Walking over to one of the shelves, Raph picked up some little gadget as he thought of how to say what he wanted but Donatello was quick to snatch it from his clumsy hands and gently place it back. He sighed. “I want to start training Ant on weapons but I’m not sure what would fit him.”

                His brother nodded. “I see your query.” He paused. “What about Jack?”

                “What about her?”

                He looked at him and frowned. “Okay Raph, try to deny it but we all see the way you look at her. I can understand you not wanting her to fight, but you have to have seen her progress. Just the same as Antonello, she could make a very skilled ninja. She is a human, yes, more vulnerable but she is far more flexible than any of us and her size lends to her speed. Jack is the only one that has beaten Mikey at his stupid games. She could become an outstanding kunoichi if her training continues…” He paused to let the words sink in.

                Raphael clenched his teeth. He knew the truth behind his brother’s words, he just didn’t want to face them. He didn’t want to imagine a time where they would all need to be out one day and Jacquelyn would be fighting along beside them. How they would all depend on her, just like they did one another. That part didn’t scare him, it was the part where the enemy would attack her, just as they attacked him and his family.

                “They both need weapons, and masks, Raph.” Donnie almost smiled.

                His gaze lifted. “The kid isn’t getting a mask until he starts treating me like I’m not a frickin’ dictator.” He pulled the yellow strip from his belt. “He’s got be like family.”

                Donatello moved to his chair and started eating the apple he had snagged from the kitchen. “And Jack? Does she have to do anything else to deem herself worthy of earning a mask?”

                Raph looked away, unable to answer. It was clear to his brother he had feelings for the girl, feelings he didn’t even want to admit. At this point he couldn’t even determine if it was infatuation or real feelings. He was so confused.

                “I think she has.”

                That got Raph’s attention.

                “If it wasn’t for Jack then we all would still be at each other’s throats, most likely. But you bringing her home, it was a good thing. She has turned it back into a home. Of course we all still miss Master Splinter, but she somehow connects with all of us and helps bridge the gap that he seemed to. Antonello…” Donnie shook his head with a slight smile. “He was a good move too. Training him, together, this is really good for us.”

                Raph felt himself start to smile. So he had managed to win his brother’s approval. He hadn’t been looking for it, but it was nice to get it.

                “But back to the weapons.” Donnie scratched his head. “Master Splinter was an expert at that. He read people, figured them out and what weapons suited them in every way… Here let me try something. Close your eyes.” Raphael snorted at him. “Just trust me and go with it.” Grumbling, Donatello’s older brother obeyed. “Now just focus on Antonello. Think about him. His personality, his habits, his expressions. How is he during training? Is he flexible? Is he adaptable? Are his movement’s fluid? Picture him moving, the way he moves with a sparring partner. What is something you can see him controlling and mastering?”

                Taking a deep breath Raphael had to try and calm his normally eager to pounce mind. He listened to his brothers words carefully and just focused on the images in his head. Conscious breathing, chest rising and falling steadily for a few long moments until he finally opened his eye. “Kusarigama.” He said simply.

                Donnie slowly nodded. “I think that is a good decision. It is a great weapon, but, he will need careful instruction on it.”

                They nodded together.

                “Now again, this time with Jack…” Donnie instructed.

                IT took longer this time as Raphael thought on her. Some of his thoughts were clouded with images of her smiling face, her sleeping form curled up in his arms, he huffed slightly and tried to focus harder on her fighting. Her technique and skill. She seemed to dance around them, slipping between them with ease, any large weapon would either be too heavy for the small woman or a hindrance to her agile movements.

                A scene played out before him, of his youngest brother teasing her and how she slipped around him, much to Mikey’s surprise. Around one side, between his legs, off a wall and then a quick kick to the back had the turtle on his face before he even realized she had moved. Once Michelangelo was back on his game they would be quite a match… but if the woman had….

                “Shobo.” Raphael opened his eyes and looked at his brother.

                He paused. “That’s different. I was not expecting something like that, but it fits. It fits really well.” A grin spread across his face. “You aren’t too bad at this Raph, not too bad.” He patted his brother on the shoulder and rolled his chair over towards the computer. “I’ll find them some suitable weapons, you can start preparing them in tomorrow’s training.”

                He nodded and turned towards the door but stopped short of walking out. “Thanks Don.” Then he left. Heading to the kitchen he shoved aside the mess his brothers left and started making a decent meal for himself and Jack. The chicken and broccoli was done shortly and Raph carried the two plates back toward the training room where he froze in place at the sight he found. Jack had her self balanced on her one hand, her back bent back over her head almost to a contortionist level, her legs bent at different angles to help keep her balanced. He had to shake his head to refocus. “Alright. Enough for today. Time to eat.”

                The sweat covered woman looked up at him and untwisted her body. She landed gracefully on her feet and bent back up in one smooth motion before walking over to Raphael. “Sorry I knocked everyone down today.” She apologized.

                He shook his head as he put the plate in her hands. “Don’t. You did great today.” He flashed a grin before turning and walking towards the living room.  “Now time to eat.” But when they entered the living room Ant and Mikey were hogging he couch and Shadow was sprawled out on the loveseat. Raph frowned.

                Jack elbowed him and motioned towards the other hallway. “We can eat in my room.  I need to grab a shirt anyway.” So she led him down the hall and nudged the door open.  Inside it was rather simple, just a low lying bed, and a small dresser. She had managed to paint the walls, and had her clothes in the dresser but she still didn’t spend much time in there. Setting her plate down, the woman leaned over and pulled a towel out of her dirty clothes bin to wipe off her sweaty neck and chest. Tossing it back into the bin she opened a drawer and found a loose fitting shirt. It was still quite big so she bunched up a side and tied it up in a knot before she sat down on her bed beside the turtle.

                “So, what’s the game plan for tomorrow?” She asked after a bite.

                Raph swallowed. “Weapons.” He said simply before more food was in his mouth.

                Jack froze a moment, her bright eyes flicking down to his belt and the shiney weapons stashed there. “I’m going to learn how to use those?” She quirked a brow and then chuckled. “I don’t think I could ever master something like you.”

                He shook his head. “Master Splinter said that one never truly master’s their weapon, you can always learn more from it.” He paused and looked at her. “And while I can use my brother’s weapons, and am… okay with them, I am much more skilled with my own. You and the kid, will be getting your own. Something more suited to your own set of skills and abilities.” He flashed her a quick smile.

                Her features flushed a moment before her smile faded. “Raph… I’ve never used a weapon. The closest thing I’ve ever used was a frying pan when I was attacked in my apartment…”

                Setting his plate down he turned to face her. “Don’t worry. I’ll teach you the basics. Donnie is going to find some other things for you too… Your weapons are unique to say the least. So they will require a little out of dojo studying.” He watched the confused look on her face. “Don’t worry, It’ll make sense tomorrow.”

                She shrugged.

                The pair sat there and ate their dinner, talking together like they did every night. But it wasn’t long until Jacquelyn was so tired, she practically fell asleep mid-sentence. Raphael picked the woman up and laid her down properly on the bed and pulled the sheet up over her. A large green finger brushed a damp blonde lock off her face and the turtle resisted the urge the urge to kiss her forehead. He didn’t want to do something stupid so he just grabbed their empty plates from her dresser and quietly left. As he put the dishes away he found his youngest brother and Shadow still playing video games, Antonello passed out on the couch cushion not too far away. Without a word, Raph walked up and turned off the TV.

                “Hey!” The gaming pair cried out in unison.

                Raph put a finger to his lips and pointed to their sleeping friend. “Tomorrow we start weapons training. Get to bed.” He directed at Mikey.

                The orange wearing one grumbled, but smiled, a hint of excitement at using his dusty nun-chucks once more.

                Shadow was still sitting there pouting. “Why’d I have to stop playing?” She asked.

                Picking her up and messing up her hair before letting her hang off his arm, Raph smirked. “We have to go visit your mom Babyface. I need her to do me a favor… And I think it’s time I meet your brother.”

                Leaving a note on the table, Raphael gave one last look towards Jack’s door, before he walked out into the sewer with the little girl in tow. The walk to the Jones’s was a short one and it was night time, so Raph wasn’t too worried about being seen, but he just didn’t like leaving things so unguarded at home, especially with Jack sleeping.  Helping Shadow up the ladder he had her check to make sure no one was around before he came out into the alley way. Then it was up the fire escape to the right floor. True Shadow could have gone inside, but a little girl alone at this time of night? That might have looked awkward, and besides, Raphael didn’t want to send her around the other side of the building alone.

                On the landing Shadow knocked on the glass a few times and waited as they heard people shuffling around inside. Both of them were surprised to see A pretty redhead pull back the curtains. She blinked a bit confused as she pulled the glasses off her face and unlocked the window, pushing it up.

                “Shadow! Raph?! What… What’s going on?” She pulled her step daughter inside and wrapped her arms around her planting a few kisses on her forehead before she reached over and gave Raph a brief hug. “What are you doing here?” She asked, clearly surprised to see them. 


	11. Chapter 11

                “I need a favor April.”

                The woman raised an eyebrow as she shut the window behind her old friend. “A favor? You haven’t seen me in months and the first thing you want is a favor?” She smiled. “Sure. What can I help you with?”

                Raph adjusted the strap to his eye patch as he looked for a way to ask what he wanted to.

                Shadow pulled April over towards the couch, but the woman’s gaze was still set on her terrapin friend. “It isn’t like you to be so at a loss for word Raph…” She teased.

                “It’s about his girlfriend.” Shadow chimed in.”

                Face red, Raph glared at the child. “She is not my girlfriend.”

                “That’s not what Uncle Mikey says.” Shadow stuck her tongue out at him.

                April’s eyes got wide. “So there is a woman?” She sat down at her daughter’s urging. “Do tell. I thought after Ninjara that you vowed to never date again.”

                The turtle snorted. “Ninjara, Mona. They were both the same.” He ran his hand over his face as he started to pace. ‘They just… They couldn’t understand me and they wanted something I couldn’t give. Mona was obsessed with becoming human again, and Ninjara just wanted to become the leader of her own clan. I was a side project to her. Something she eventually forgot and well, I am not anyones back burner project.” He clenched his fist and resisted the urge to punch a hole in the wall. He took a deep breath and let the air out his nose. “I’m not dating Jacquelyn, she is just my friend.” His eyes flashed up to April.

                The woman nodded. “I see. So tell me about this Jacquelyn.” She pressed a bit.

                Shadow jumped in. “She’s great mom!” The girl bounced on the sofa. “She’s tiny but she moves like those people that you see in the circus the um…. Um…” her hands moved as she tried to show what she meant.

                “Acrobats?” Her mother tried to help.

                “Kind of? Like on the balance beam.”

                “Oh a gymnast.”

                She nodded. “She’s really pretty too! Her hair is long and looks like honey. She talks kind of funny though.”

                Raph grinned. “She’s from Georgia.” He explained the accent.

                The little girl went on. “She plays with my hair and cleans up everybody’s messes on top of all the training Uncle Raph puts her through.”

                That caught April’s attention. She glanced down at the girl beside her and kissed her temple. “Why don’t you get to bed sweetie. Daddy has off tomorrow and wanted to take you and C.J. to the park.” The girl hugged them both and then skipped down towards her rarely used bedroom so the grownups could talk. “So what’s the real deal with this woman? She’s human I take it?”

                Raph nodded. “Her brother was killed trying to stop a company from using the mutagen. Then she helped out Leo and I… so, she kind of got swept up in it all. She doesn’t have much but…”

                April could see something in the way he was hesitating, that distant look on his face. He was thinking about her, in more than just the conversation. He was lost in thought, his mind focused solely on the woman sleeping below the city streets. “There’s more. You really care for her don’t you?”

                Heat crept across his skin, turning his face a shade of red. He sighed. “Yes? I… well… I don’t know.” He fell into a seat beside her. “She scares me.”

                April snorted as she tried to hide a bout of laughter. “Scares you? Raphael Hamato, I don’t think you have ever been scared of anything in your life.” She resigned. “What about her scares you?”

                “I can’t stop thinking about her. I just… It’s like every waking moment. I try to meditate, but she’s right there. I work out but she is a constant image in my head. I’m training her to fight but the thought of her getting hurt literally keeps me awake at night.” He ran his hands over his face. “Everything I have ever known has just been fighting, anger, hit this, kill that, fight them, destroy something…. But when I’m close to her, I go to touch her and I’m scared I’m going to break her. For the first time in my life I don’t want to damage the thing in front of me.”

                April blinked a few times as she stared at him. She hadn’t heard him say so much in a long long time. “Wow… I don’t think you’ve ever said that kind of thing about anyone.”

                Raph straightened. “Yeah well… don’t go telling Casey.”

                “I won’t.” She chuckled. “But it sounds to me like this girl is more than just a girl to you. I mean back in the day, you guys didn’t even let me get that involved.” She waved a hand trying to dismiss the subject. She could see the tension building up in her friends muscles. “Anyway. You said you needed a favor?”

                Nodding Raph looked at her. “Jacquelyn doesn’t really have much. She came here with close to nothing and well… I was hoping you could take her shopping. She’s never been in the city and I don’t want her going alone. You guys have access to the account Donnie set up for us so…”

                A grin spread across her face. “Girl time? That’s the favor?” She leaned over and hugged him briefly before he half-heartedly shoved her off. “Oh Raph, you don’t know a thing about women.” Rising to her feet she straightened out her tee shirt. “I’ll come down tomorrow around lunch, make sure she is ready, now… I’m kicking you out. It’s late and I need sleep.”

                “Thanks again.” Raph got to his feet and climbed out her window making sure she locked it behind him. Instead of going down he went up. Running across the rooftops like he hadn’t done in years. He hopped up on ledges and launched himself into areal flips and bounced off air conditioning units and other loud rumbling apparatuses that kept the buildings below him alive. He stayed out in the fresh air for a while, stopping by the park. 

                He stood there staring dumbly at the patch of wild flowers before him. His conversation with April reminded him of all the things he had done wrong with his relationships in the past. Granted not everything had been his fault, and this _thing_ with Jacquelyn wasn’t a relationship. But he did care for her. Even on the roof tops he had been thinking of her…

                “Girls like flowers right?” He grabbed a fistful and wrenched them from the ground before slinking back into the shadows and making his way back to the sewer.

                By the time the turtle got back home the flowers in his hands were missing most of the petals, the stems were bent and broken in his large fist and only a few remained mostly intact. He had yet to notice. His home still quiet with everyone asleep, Raphael went to Jack’s room and slowly opened the door to peek inside, but she wasn’t there. “Jacquelyn?” He called in softly before stepping in and glancing around. But she was nowhere inside.

                She could have gone to use the bathroom so he walked towards the other hallway to find her but the bathroom door was open, the light off. He frowned. Turning to his room he opened his door and peered inside only half surprised to see his hammock move slightly. Closing the door behind him as he walked in. He crossed the room and steadied the swinging bed. “Hey.” He said softly.

                The woman rolled over and rubbed at her eyes. “Hey.” She smiled. “I couldn’t sleep.” Sitting up she went to get out of the hammock but paused, her night vision had gotten increasingly better since her first night there. “What are those?” She asked as she pointed to his hand.

                “Oh… I uh…” Raphael felt that heat converging on his face again as he looked down at the flowers. When he noticed that they were half dead he frowned. Pulling the mostly dead ones out and flicking them to the side he offered her the mostly living ones. “They are… for you.”

                She took them and held them up to her nose like a prized bouquet, even though she only had about four flowers. She beamed up at him. “They are lovely.” She put a hand on his chest to steady herself as she leaned forward and planted a small kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. I’ve never gotten flowers before.”

                Raph wiped at his face as he looked away, his heart racing. “Yeah, whatever.” He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s nothing special. I just saw the stupid things.” He muttered.

                “Well I don’t think they’re stupid.” Carefully she crawled out of the hammock and looked up at him. “I’ll get out of your bed so you can sleep.” She paused, staring down at her disheveled looking flowers. “Can I still stay in here with you? I’ll sleep in the floor.”

                Raph was about to hop in his bed when he heard her. “Don’t sleep on the floor.” He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her towards him. Taking the flowers from her hand he set them on his night stand beside his weapons before he lifted her up and climbed up into the hammock with her nestled on his chest like they had so many times before. “Your body will be far too stiff for training tomorrow if you sleep on the floor.” He closed his eyes and sighed. _Yeah… That’s really what you wanted to say Raph._  He scolded himself as he adjusted his one arm around her. _You should have just opened up your big mouth, but no, you kept it shut for once._ He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep, but it didn’t come easy.

 

                The following day training was spent divided between their normal physical routines and half studying and learning about their new weapons. Donnie and Mikey were told to practice with theirs since well, they hadn’t spent much time with them in a while.

                Antonello’s weapon, was a small sickle attached to a long chain. Excellent for tangling up opponent and then dealing a final blow. Also good for distance combat and close combat as well. It would be hard to master.

                Jack’s weapon was much smaller. Small wooden or metal rods held in her fists that poked out either end. They were used by jabbing at the pressure points of the enemy’s body. Some of the small rods were sharpened to points to stab the sensitive locations to make them permanently useless and not just temporarily disabled. Raphael picked this weapon for her because as much as he hated the thought of it, he knew she would be the one that could get close enough to dance around an enemy and inflict that amount of damage. The tricky part was Jacquelyn would have to learn all the pressure points and what each of them would do. Which ones would paralyze, which ones would inflict pain, and which ones would kill instantly.

                The woman frowned as she looked down at the different graphs and diagrams on the table before her. Raphael was off working with Antonello while she sat there reading. After a while, Raph glanced over and saw her unhappy face, pausing his training, letting the younger turtle work on his own, he went over to her.

                “What’s wrong?” he asked.

                Jack brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “I… I don’t know if I can do this.” She looked up at him, eyes big and sad, like she was going to disappoint him.

                Shaking his head he reached a hand down. “Come on you’ve stared at that long enough, time to practice. “

                Before she could say no, he had pulled her to her feet. “What? But I…” It was too late, he was shoving the solid wooden rods into her small hands. They were blunted on the ends, only meant for sparing but she still didn’t want to use them. They felt strange in her hands.

                Standing behind her, Raphael moved her into a starting pose for sparing. It was a bit different from the hand to hand one she had used with Mikey before. He let his hand linger on her shoulder just a bit longer than needed before he let her go and moved around to stand in front of her. “You’re fighting me today.” He took off his real sai and picked up a pair of blunt wooden ones that were chewed up and a bit mangled.

                “Y-you?”

                He nodded. “Just a quick fight though. You are going shopping later.”

                Jack looked at him puzzled, her arms falling to her sides as she fell out of her fighting stance. “What?”

                That’s when he lunged. His movements were slowed of course, he didn’t really want to hurt her, but he needed her to move, to think, and to put her new knowledge to the test. Her reaction was perfect. Jack dodged and rolled under him, her hand lashed out, the weapon in her hand jabbing at a pressure point on his inner thigh. Raphael’s leg collapsed for a second before he recovered. The turtle grinned. She was thinking on reflex, it was good. He spun around and threw a hand out to hit her with it. Jack ducked, her hands flying up and hitting a series of pressure points on his forearm and upper arm.

                Raph actually swore when she hit one with enough force to make his hand go numb. He almost dropped his weapon as he spun around and launched himself off the wall at the woman. She in turn hit the floor and rolled out of the way but was quick to close the distance once more. Jack realized she couldn’t hit him in any convenient places, his shell protected him. She would have to think harder.

                The two of them danced around the sparing room each dealing small blows to one another until Raphael had Jack pinned up against the wall, his sai pointed at her neck. They were both panting, chests heaving and covered in sweat. “Got ya’.” He smirked, their faces just a few inches away.

                “Oh really?”

                He felt her shobo tap his inner thigh, his femoral artery. If she’d hit that point correctly he could be dead. His smile got bigger. “Good job. I knew you could handle it.” He backed away and held his hand out for her weapons.

                Handing them over she smiled up at him, more than happy she won his approval. “Now you should go get cleaned up. April will be here in a little bit. I’ll get you some lunch.”

                “Thanks.” She turned and gracefully glided out of the room.

                “Dude! What are you doing!”

                Raphael spun around and chucked his wooden sai as hard as he could at whoever was behind him. Luckily both Donnie and Mikey were fast enough to get out of the way and the wooden object broke into a few wooden pieces as it struck the wall. Red face he glared at them.

                Standing back up straight, Mikey completely ignored the assault attempt. “That was the perfect chance! You could have just leaned in and been all kissy kissy with her!” He closed his eyes and puckered his lips as he held some invisible figure in his arms.

                Donnie smacked him on the back of the head so he’d stop it.

                “How long have you two been standing there?” Raphael snapped.

                The two of them smirked. “Since before you two started your little dance.” Donatello informed him. “But Mikey was right… You did miss he perfect opportunity.”

                He snorted. “What the hell do you guys know.” He snatched his weapons from the side table and stormed out.

                “I know she won’t wait forever!” Donatello called after him.


	12. Chapter 12

                April came around every week or so to take Jack out. She liked the younger woman and didn’t think it was right that she was trapped under ground all the time. So after a month or so Jack had a decent wardrobe and a new human friend to confide in, a convenience she had taken for granted before she had lived with the boys.  

                It had been about seven months since Jack had moved in with the turtles and started training. She was like family now. Well, they saw her that way.

 

                Shadow ducked between a few clothing racks and jumped out to scare her father who had decided to tag along this time. Casey feigned a heart attack and almost fell over. The toddler at his feet poked him curiously until Casey laughed and ruffled his dark hair.

                Jack smiled and looked up at April. “So… I have been meaning to ask you something.”

                The older woman quirked a brow, tucking her red hair behind her ear. “Oh? What’s that?”

                “I wanted to pay the guys back for all they have done for me… but I don’t have any money. I kind of feel like a free loader. I wanted to get a job. Just something small, part time.” Jack explained in a rush, trying not to sound too desperate.

                Casey looked down at his kids. “Shadow, watch CJ for a second, don’t let go of him.”

                The girl rolled her eyes but took her baby brother to play hide and seek in the clothes.

                “Why would you want to do that?” He asked on approach. “They don’t expect anything from you, you aren’t a free loader trust me.”

                Jacquelyn sighed. “I know. I just… I wanted to be able to get them something.” She scratched her head. “I just am having some trouble…”

                April crossed her arms, the bags of thing she had bought swinging a bit from under her elbow. “Trouble with what?”

                “I don’t know where to get a job that’s close enough I could make it back and forth home by myself and not freak Raph out…. And I don’t know where I could find new weapons for him.” She smiled sheepishly. “I just want like a waitressing job, or something…”

                Casey scratched his head. “There’s that-”

                April held up her hand and silenced her husband. “I’m sure there are plenty of secretary jobs that would gladly hire you.” She stated. “Why just a waitressing job?”

                “I’m pretty dumb.” She hurried to continue when she saw the disapproving look on April’s face. “I barely finished high school and I don’t have a college degree. I can’t get a good job. Besides, I’m good at waitressing, It’s all I’ve ever done really.”

                April leaned in close to her. “You are not dumb sweetie. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently, even yourself. You could have any job you wanted, but if you want something simple… so be it.” She smiled.

                “There’s a café that’s only about a block away from the sewer.”  Casey piped in. “It shouldn’t be too bad to get from there and back on your own. Pretty sure I saw a help wanted sign the other day.”

                “Mom!!! C.J. won’t get out of the clothes!” Shadow frowned as she pointed to the particular rack of clothing.

                April frowned and went to fetch her children leaving Casey standing there with the younger woman. He looked down at her and tugged on a loose strand of her hair. “Stop frowning.” He smiled at her. “So what exactly were you planning on getting the meat head anyway?”

                Jack rubbed her arm and shifted her weight to her other foot a bit nervously. “I wanted to get him a new pair of sai. His are so old and beat up… I just think it would be nice to get him some new ones. The problem is I don’t know where to get him a decent pair he’d actually be able to fight with. Everything I’ve seen in stores around here are cheap knock offs of the real ones used to fight.”

                Casey scratched his head and then tapped a rough finger against the stubble on his chin. “You know… I think I know someone who can help, but it won’t be all that easy to get a hold of him.”

                The woman looked up at him. “Who? Who is it?”

                “Well, his name is Usagi. He’s not exactly from around here…  but he’d be the dude that could get you properly made weapons.”

                “How do I find this guy?” Jack asked him, the excitement clear in her eyes as she bounced up on her feet.

                He frowned. “We need to talk to Donnie.”

 

                Later that night Donnie met them at the Jones’s apartment. He crawled through the window and tossed his staff to Jack as he cracked his neck. It had been a while since he made a stealthy trip like that. Not that he was bad at it, he just was a little out of practice.

                “So what is this super-secret meeting for? Why did you call me and not Raph?” His gaze held on Jacquelyn for a moment before moving on to Casey, the one who had called him.

                Casey was leaning into the fridge, scanning the shelves looking for a drink as he spoke. “Your gal pal over here needs some help with something.” He said.

                Donnie quirked and eyebrow. “Oh really now?” He looked over at the woman he had been living with for a while now. “What exactly do you need _my_ help with?”

                Casey grabbed a beer and popped it open as he leaned against the fridge. He too looked at her, waiting for her too explain.

                Chewing on her lip Jack tried to figure out what to say. “Casey helped my get a job this afternoon. It’s just something part time, I want to save up some money so I can get Raphael some new sai. He said this guy…Usagi knows where to get a good pair but you’d be the one to get in contact with him.”

                The turtle blinked a few times as she finished explaining. “I see… so why do you want to do this?” He asked her calmly.

                “I don’t know… Raph has just done so much for me. He rescued me from a pretty pathetic life. He gave me a great home and family.” He smiled. “Taught me how to fight and stand up for myself…” Her mind drifted to other thoughts as her features turned red. She didn’t mention those thoughts. “I just want to do something nice to pay him back.”

                “You know you don’t have to.”

                She nodded. “But I want to.”

                Donnie nodded. “Well Usagi would be the one to get you quality weapons. He knows all the masters. It’s just finding him, and hoping he’s in our world.” Donnie scratched his head.

                Jack’s brow creased. “Excuse me?”

                Donnie looked up from the floor, his thought’s pausing. “Hmm?”

                “What do you mean, ‘our world’?”

                Donnie frowned. “How much of our past has Raph told you about?”

                “Not much honestly…” She admitted, her shoulders sagging.

                Shaking his head, Donatello took Jack over to the sofa and sat down with her. The next few hours he spent explaining the odd details of their lives. Everything from how they came to be, to fighting the shredder and the utroms, the inter-dimensional device and Usagi, the battle nexus…  Donnie tried to talk slow and let it all sink in but he knew it was a lot to absorb all at once. “So… How are you doing with all of this?” He finally asked her.

                She was silent. For a long moment. “I… wow. So… You guys have really done a lot.” She laughed a bit nervously. “To be accepted by guys like you, I guess I am really lucky.”

                Donnie frowned. This wasn’t exactly the response he was looking for, either way though, if she wanted a new weapon for Raph, they didn’t really have time to sit and talk forever. He shook his head. “Usagi is from another dimension but he frequently comes here. I maintain a stable line of communication with him. It’s mostly for Leo’s sake, they were close. Anyway… I will try to contact him for you, I’ll let you know what he says.” He reached out and put his green hand over her shoulder. “I’d talk to Raph about all this stuff if it worries you.”

                “It doesn’t worry me.” Jack said quickly, shifting in her seat.

                “Sure it doesn’t.” Donnie rose to his feet. “You’ve given me a big job. I should go get started.” He excused himself and climbed back out the window.

                Casey was leaning against the wall beside the couch, he looked down at the younger woman.  “So, how ya doin’?”

                Jack stared down at her hands as they fiddled with the end of her shirt. She didn’t say anything for a while so Casey sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. “Look, I know it’s a lot. If I wasn’t around for most of it I probably wouldn’t believe it either.”

                “It’s not that… I just…” She looked over at him. “I mean yeah, some of those things are pretty out there… but last year I probably wouldn’t have even thought a giant talking turtle was possible.” She sighed. “I’m just disappointed that Raph didn’t tell me all these things.”

                Casey set his beer down and looked her in the eye. “You can’t think like that. Raph doesn’t say much about anything to anyone. It’s nothing personal, believe me, he just… He isn’t one to talk about the past. Or his feelings.”

                She nodded. “I should probably get home.” She said softly as she got to her feet. “I’ve got to train tomorrow before heading into work.” Casey walked her to the window. She had taken to using the same exit the turtles had, she moved just like them. Casey shook his head with the thought before heading to bed to find his wife.

               

                Raph was sitting at the dining room table when she finally came through the door. His eye slowly slid up to meet her face as she unstrapped her shobo from her thighs and set them on the table before she sat down. “Where the hell have you been?”

                She looked startled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

                He frowned. “You have been out all frickin’ day. I thought you’d be home hours ago.”

                “I was at April’s. We were talking…” She sighed, looking away, unsure of whether or not to bring up the things Donnie had revealed.

                Snorting Raph got to his feet. “Yeah well, don’t make me worry next time.” He turned his back and headed towards his room. “I’m going to bed.”

                Sitting there she watched him start to walk away, but she couldn’t just let him be mad at her when she had just as every right to be mad at him. She jumped to her feet, the chair behind her screeching on the floor. “Raph why didn’t you tell me you’ve fought aliens? Or been to another dimension? Or fought in some galactic tournament?” She blurted out.

                The sounds from the living room died down as Mikey paused his game and he and Ant turned around on the sofa to witness the exchange taking place behind them.

                The woman’s question stopped Raphael dead in his tracks. He turned around to face her, his eye wide as his mouth moved but no sound came out. He was fumbling for words. “I just… It didn’t seem important.”

                “Not important?” She asked him, closing the distance between them. “You have fought with things I didn’t know existed, been to places most people wouldn’t even believe possible, hell, I didn’t even think you were possible a year ago.” The frustration in her voice faded as her shoulders slumped. “Do you not trust me?”

                Raph ran a hand over his face as he let out a frustrated grunt into his palm. “Of course I trust you. With everything.  I just…” He took the last few steps towards her and rested his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at her. “All that stuff happened years ago. It has nothing to do with now. I just… We did that. It’s done and over. So I’ve moved on. If you wanted to know something about my past all you had to do is ask. I’d tell you anything.”

                She didn’t say anything just wrapped her arms as far as she could around him in a hug as she held tight to him. It surprised the turtle but only for a moment before he wrapped his strong arms around her. Raph glanced up at his brother  and Ant who were still spying on them, Mikey and Ant were making kissy faces at him. Turning with the woman in his arms Raph loosened his grip and led her towards his room. “So why don’t you tell me about your day with April.”

                “I got a job.” She said as she set her weapons down on his night stand.

                Raph stiffened for a moment before pulling his sai from his belt. “A job? What would make you do that?” He shoved his rack of weights aside and kicked a dirty towel over to the corner of the room.

                Jack looked at him and wrinkled her nose. She picked up the stinky towel he had used to wipe sweat off and balled it up before throwing it out the door towards the laundry room. “I just wanted to find some way to pull my weight around here. If I earned a little bit of money I thought it would be a good way to do that.”

                Raph turned her around. “You don’t need to do anything to repay us. You do enough already.”

                “Says you.” She stuck her tongue out at him before she reached up and started to pull her hair back into a pony tail. She watched the male pull of his mask and lay it on the table beside their weapons. “So when is Ant going to earn a mask?”

                He smirked. Reaching into the drawer he pulled out the yellow mask and ran his rough hands over it. “I think the kid has earned it. He’s stopped acting scared of me and he’s more like another little brother.”  He reached in the drawer and this time pulled out a strip of green cloth. It matched his skin as he ran his thumbs over it. Turning around Raphael grabbed one of Jack’s hands. “Normally we’d make a big thing of this, and for the kid, I’m going to but… This is a little different. You have become an important part of this family, not just to me, but to all of us. I’m not really sure what we would do if you weren’t here. You have become a great fighter in the few months that we have been training, and an even better friend. I would be privileged to have you at my side in a fight.” He held the band of cloth out before her, smirking. “This is for you. The only human we’ve ever agreed to give one to.”

                Jack’s smile grew as she listened to him talk, but when she was presented with the mask it faded. Eyes wide she looked at the mask and then up at him. It was like a rite of passage, a sacred honor that she was being given. Tentatively she reached out and ran her hand over the fabric until her hand landed in his. “Raph… I…”

                “Look, you don’t have to wear it all the time like we do but, it… They mean a lot to us. So, it’d mean a lot if you kept it with you.” He looked down at her.

                Her small hand took the fabric from him and brought it up to her face. Situating it over her eyes she tied it behind her head and grinned up at him.

                He couldn’t hide the smile on his face. “You look just like one of us.” There was that sting in his chest again. That longing to just bring her closer and run his hands down her skin. He forced his eye closed and took a deep breath.  “It’s late we should get to bed.” He shouldn’t be thinking such things. The thoughts should not even cross his mind when there was no way she would ever reciprocate. It was better to just ignore them.

                Jack pushed the mask up on her head like a head band, her bangs falling out over her forehead. “Yeah, okay.” She moved to follow him towards the hammock but stopped. “I’m going to go grab some shorts, these jeans aren’t all that comfy. I’ll be right back.” She smiled.

                Raph simply nodded as he flipped himself up into his hammock to wait for her.

                Crossing the house, she was surprised to find it silent. The television was off, Mikey was gone, so was Ant. They must have been in bed. The woman made sure she was extra quiet as she made her way to her room, but silence seemed to come easy to her movements now after so many months of practice. Once in her room she stripped down and donned a tank top and shorts to sleep in. She went to remove her newly won mask but smiled and decided to leave it atop her head.

                As she stepped back into the living area she saw a dark figure moving around. She didn’t recognize the way he was movie. She had gotten so used to seeing Donnie, Ant, Mikey and Raph moving around in the dark house, she could pick out their shadows no problem.  Taking a step forward she almost smiled.

                “Leo? Leo is that you?” 


	13. Chapter 13

                Jack took a step forward towards the turtle standing in the living room. “Oh my god… Leo… where have you been? It’s been what? Seven months?” She was grinning from ear to ear as she walked towards him.

                The turtle said nothing. But as soon as the woman was close enough, he turned around. One hand shot out and grabbed her by the throat. She couldn’t even scream as she was shoved up against the wall. Leo’s eyes were glazed over as he seemed to look past her, not at her. Small hands clawed at his as it tightened on her throat cutting of the air and blood flow. She had never been in a real fight before.

                That’s when her instincts kicked in. Everything Raphael had been training her for clicked. She flipped her legs up and kicked Leo in the face, twisting herself to get his grip to break on her neck. It worked. He dropped her and looked at her stupidly, seemingly surprised by her abilities.

                The woman was on the floor, gasping for breath as she scrambled back. “Leo.” She coughed. “It’s me. Jack.” She looked up at him, her big eyes trying to connect with his but it wasn’t working. It was like he didn’t know who she was anymore, or he didn’t care.

                Leonardo dove at her. Rolling out of the way, she reached down on her thigh for her weapons. They weren’t there. They were in the bed room. She crawled and tried to scramble down the hall towards the bedroom to retrieve them but a hand circled her ankle. Yanking her back, her face bounced off the hard floor as she tried to get away.  Leo flipped her over and his fist connected with her gut. “Stop, Leo! Please! What…” She moved her head as his fist went to strike her. There was another hit to her side, then another and another.

                When she stopped fighting for the moment Leo paused. Jack took the chance to slip out of his grasp. Jumping to her feet she ignored the bruises forming and throbbing already as she launched her own set of attacks on him. Small fists connected as she danced around him, frustrating the turtle. He screamed as he finally grabbed her by the throat and threw her across the room.

                Jack’s body collided with the large television and entertainment center. The glass, plastic, and plywood cracked and shattered as the electronics and stand fell on top of her on the floor.

               

                The scream alerted the others to the brother’s return. Raph was the first one of his room. “Jacquelyn?” He asked as he walked passed his brothers door.

                Mikey rubbed his eyes as he opened his door. “What’s going on?” He followed his older brother out towards the living room to investigate the strange sounds.

                Donatello opened his bedroom door just as Raph recognized the turtle standing in the middle of the room. “Leo?” He almost smiled. “It’s about time you got home. I was about to send a rescue party after you.”

                But the blue banded one said nothing just drug his feet towards the shattered entertainment center.

                “Hey… What happened to the T.V?” Mikey asked, unable to see the woman buried beneath the debris.

                Raph stiffened as he watched a blur streak across the room and tackle Leonardo. It was Ant. The young turtle hit their ‘Leader’ so hard the bricks on the wall behind him cracked. Leo grunted as he tried to punch at the younger turtle but Antonello dodged it. His smaller fists connected with Leo’s side as the assault began.

                The other three could only stare for a moment, confused as to what was taking place.

                “Ant what are you doing! That’s our brother!” Donnie called out, afraid to step in, not wanting to fight either of them.

                “No!” Ant shouted as he took a fist to the face. “It’s not!”  The younger turtle kept getting between his elder and the broken T.V. behind him.

                Leo let out a guttural scream as he ripped a sword from its sheath on his back. He was enraged when he couldn’t reach his true target. Swinging the blade wildly, Leo slashed at Ant. The younger turtle refused to move out of the way. Instead, he caught the blade in his hand. The cold steel sliced down between his two fingers and almost severed his hand in half but Ant refused to let the sword go. Tears were welling up in his eyes, fear or pain, Raph wasn’t sure.

                Raphael took a step forward. “Leo stop this!”

                Leo didn’t even acknowledge him. That pissed Raph off some more. “Leo!” He shouted as he dove at his brother. A strong arm circled his sword arm and pulled it back to prevent further harm on Ant. The smaller turtle fell to the ground, cradling his damaged arm and hand. “What the hell is wrong with you Leo?!”

                He was thrashing around in Raphael’s grip like a rabid animal. Not a trained ninja.  Using his own arms to try and pin his brother’s in place he yelled. “A little help Mikey!”

                Rushing over Michelangelo got in front of his brother and tried to help Raph keep Leo under control. “Uh.. Raph?” Mikey frowned as he struggled against his fighting older brother. “Leo doesn’t look normal.”

                “Fuck.” Raph mumbled. Reaching up he grabbed the remaining sword and threw it across the room so it was out of the way. “We have to restrain him until Don can figure this out.”

                Donnie was busy wrapping up Ant’s hand for the time being. It would need some major repair later though. “Just… Hold it still okay.” He tried to stay positive.

                Antonello shook his head. “I’m not worried about me. He was trying to kill Jack.”

                The boys seemed to freeze for a moment, until Leo howled again. Raph swept his leg under Leo’s and with Mikey’s help, got him to the ground. Raph had to practically lay on top of him as he thrashed and squirmed on the floor. After retrieving some rope Mikey helped tie Leonardo up on the floor and Raphael glared down at the thrashing turtle who was practically foaming at the mouth now.

                “Where is she?”

                Leo didn’t answer, coherently.

                “Where the fuck is she!” Raph pulled his fist back ready to hit his brother in the face.

                “Raph…”

                His head whipped around and looked at the young wounded turtle that had come to her aid when he was oblivious. He felt a knot forming in his gut. Guilt, regret, more anger. Jack was hurt, so was Ant, this was his fault.

                Ant simply pointed to the T.V. or what was left of it. Raphael dove over the sofa and looked at the pile of plastic and glass. He saw blood leaking out from under it onto the area rug. His heart almost stopped. In haste he starting shoving broken pieces to the side and throwing them behind him. When he caught a glimpse of skin, he remembered to breathe. “Jacquelyn?” He was gentler as he moved the last bits of glass and plastic and wires off of her. There was a deep gash on her forehead and cuts all over her from the broken glass. Blue and purple marks marred her skin in the shapes of fists he knew belonged to his brother. But the woman wasn’t moving. “Come on Jackie… be okay.” His eye was burning and his vision was blurry until he blinked. Large hands slid under her limp frame and pulled her onto his lap. She whimpered slightly but still didn’t open her eyes.

                “Raph you should come see this.” Donnie’s voice called from behind him.

                Glancing over his shoulder Raphael glared. “What?” he snapped.

                “I think I found the cause of all of this.” Donnie held some small object in his hand as he approached, Leo was now silent, passed out on the floor. He looked down at Jack before he knelt down and lifted up the edge of her shirt. “She really should be in a hospital, but I know you won’t agree to that. So… Take her to her room and patch her up as best you can, she probably has a concussion and a cracked rib or two besides the obvious cuts and bruises. Then we need to talk.”

                 Cradling the woman against him Raphael silently walked past the others and made his way to her room. Her room was clean, untouched almost, although he saw the hurriedly discarded clothes half hanging out of the hamper. The ones she had just changed out of before she was to come back and fall asleep with him.

                His chest hurt.

                He should have told her about his past. Everything. It was a stupid thing to get upset over, he still thought so, but he didn’t want her to be angry at him for anything. Now that she was unconscious he regretted not telling her everything. Kicking the blanket off the bed, Raphael laid Jack down as gently as he could. Leaving for a moment he returned with the first aid kit that was normally tucked in the closet. Kneeling down beside her bed he took gauze pads and dabbed at the gash that split her forehead open. It cut down from the middle of her hairline to her right eyebrow. Raph couldn’t help but think how lucky she was it didn’t go lower or she could have lost her eye.

                It was awkward putting the bandages on someone else but he applied the butterfly bandages to her face and a few of the larger cuts on her arms and legs after dabbing them all with antiseptic. Dropping the bloody cloths to the floor Raph sighed and wrapped one of her small hands in his.

                “I’m so sorry.” He mumbled. “I never… I am never going to let anyone hurt you again.” He took a deep breath and looked up at her still face. He hesitated before he brought her hand up and gently kissed her knuckles. He left the room quickly, wanting to get back as soon as he could. Rushing into the living room he was glaring, his heart pounding. “Someone tell me what the hell is going on here?!” He shouted.

                Donatello was kneeling before Ant with a needle and scissors and gauze as he tried to fix the youngest turtle’s arm. He was stitching together muscle tissue and skin, trying to pull the two halves of Antonello’s hand back together. “Leo was being controlled by something.” Donnie answered without looking up.

                Mikey was still sitting on top of their unconscious brother, who was still tied up, face down on the floor. He was frowning. “How’s Jack?”

                Raph looked at him and shook his head. “What do you mean controlled?” He was biting off every word with extreme care. His fists were flexing at his sides as he tried to not just lunge over and pummel his brother.

                “I found a small electronic device stuck to the back of his neck.” Donnie glanced at him briefly. “It was glowing slightly until I removed it. Once it was removed it stopped glowing and Leo stopped fighting. It appears to have some sort of purple fluid in it. I want to test it as soon as I am done here. I need you to just make sure Leo doesn’t wake up and freak out again. I don’t know if there will be any residual effects.” Donnie paused and looked at Raph to make sure he was understood.

                Raph snorted. He didn’t want to be out here, he wanted to go see if Jack would wake up anytime soon. But he wouldn’t abandon his brothers. He’d stay, if only to ask Leo what the hell happened as soon as he was awake.

                After finishing the stitches and bandages up on Ant’s arm, Donnie got to his feet. “Don’t touch it, or play with it. Don’t even try to move your fingers. I don’t…” He sighed. “I’m not sure how well the muscles in that hand are going to heal.” Shaking his head he disappeared into his room to test whatever little gadget he had pulled off of Leo.

                Raph hunched down in front of their once missing brother and glared at his calm sleeping face. The rage inside him just continued to boil. He was pissed at himself for not noticing the other turtle enter their home. He was pissed that he wasn’t there to protect the woman he cared about. He was pissed that his brother attacked her. He wanted answers so he could go sulk and beat himself up for the other things.

                “How are you doing kid?” Raph asked without looking away from Leo.

                Antonello shook his head. “I’m sorry Raph. I… I tried to stop him. I heard them fighting I should have been out here sooner.” He hung his head.

                His eye darted over. Shifting slightly he put a hand on the younger turtles shoulder and forced him to look up. “Don’t apologize. This is _not_ your fault. We will sort all of this out, don’t worry. You just focus on getting that hand better.” He squeezed his shoulder a bit before turning back to Leo.

 

                It was a little while later that Donnie emerged from his room, slamming the door behind him and muttering a few curses under his breath. “Damn it…” He came over to his brothers and sighed. “This little implant,” He held up the little electronic device. “Was injecting Leo with a concoction of a hallucinogen, a numbing agent, and a mutagen variant that I haven’t seen before. It also had traces of a minor paralytic and another few substances I have yet to Identify.” Hunching down beside Leo he peeled back his brother’s eyelids. “I don’t believe there will be any residual effects. However I don’t know how aware he was of what he was doing. I don’t know when he will wake up either.”

                Raph had to swallow down the anger grumbling in his chest. Getting to his feet he jerked his head to the side and motioned for Mikey to move. Then with his help they lifted Leo off the floor and carried the unconscious turtle down the hall to his bedroom.

                “Should we untie him?” Mikey asked as they stared down at Leo’s sleeping form.

                “No. He can suck it up if he wakes up normal. Besides, he has to answer a few questions.” Raphael turned on his heal and left the room. Mikey hesitated a moment before following his brother out.

                Walking through the living room, Raph ignored Ant as he stood and went to follow him. He headed to the other side of the house and to Jack’s room. He grabbed a chair from the corner and brought it over to the side of the bed. Sitting down with a sigh he reached over and gently pulled a light blanket up over the wounded girl before he took one of her hands. He brought her hand up in his as he propped his elbows up on the edge of her bed.

                “I’m sorry Jacquelyn. I wasn’t there to protect you.” He hung his head. “I… I should have been better. I should have been smarter and stronger.” He squeezed his eyes shut, his eye burning as he felt something dripping down his face. The aching in his chest spread like a fist that wouldn’t stop hitting him. “You are too important to me… I can’t let anything happen to you. Never again.”

                He sat there in silence for a long while just gently stroking her hand making sure she was still breathing and didn’t seem to be in pain. But after a while he started to talk. He told her everything. Starting from the beginning, he spared no detail as he told her about his life. Everything from his training to his failed love life to the death of Splinter.

 

                Mikey peered into the room and listened to his brother talk to the unconscious woman. He frowned and shook his head as he walked away. He had never seen his brother in such an emotional state. He had never been so attached to anyone. Even his other romantic interests, he had never gotten so involved with. Not like this.

                Returning to the living room Mikey fell into the couch and looked over at the mass of broken things piled up on the floor. He could hear Ant wincing behind him as Donnie went back to tend to the massive injury. Mikey put his hands over his ears for a moment before he shook his head and got to his feet. Grabbing a trash bag from under the sink he brought it back to the living room and attempted to pick up the broken and dismembered television set and stand.

                “Aw man… even the xbox is busted.” He mumbled under his breath and his shoved the broken console into the bag. It took him a good few hours to pick up and bag the larger pieces. By the time he was on to sweeping up the glass and smaller pieces of debris, Donnie had come over to help. “How’s Ant?”

                Donnie sighed and held the dust pan for him. “He’s in a great deal of pain. I did my best to mend his wound, but I’m not a real doctor. I tried to get his muscles and bones back into the proper places but…” He shook his head. “Ant is still just a kid. I know he doesn’t remember anything before us, but I’d say he’s only about fifteen, sixteen max, and after a massively destructive injury like that to his hand I’m not sure how much function it will have once it heals. He may be permanently maimed for the rest of his life. It’s not like it’s just a scar, it’s a debilitating injury.” Donnie stood with the dust pan in hand.

                “And Leo did it…” Mikey added as he held the bag open for Donnie to dump the trash in.

                “Yeah. Leo did it. That’s one of my concerns. If Leo wakes up and is himself, I’m not sure how much of this he will understand… But then, I’m afraid that Ant won’t know how to react to the real Leo.” He glanced at his brother. “I sent Ant to his room with a handful of pain killers. Hopefully he can sleep through some of the pain.”

                Mikey tied the bag shut. “What about Raph?”

                Donnie paused. “Hm?”

                “Raph is furious. Leo was trying to kill Jack. Do you think he is just going to let that go?” Mikey looked up at him. “I know he hasn’t said it but it’s pretty obvious that Raph cares for her more than anything else… To have his brother try and kill her?” He shook his head.

                “That’s what concerns me the most Mikey. Raph’s temper, it’s so unpredictable I just have no idea how he is really going to react when the two of them wake up.” 


	14. Chapter 14

                The first thing he saw was darkness. His head was a pounding resonating tempo against his skull as he squeezed his eyes shut. It almost made him want to puke. That and the churning in his stomach. He had this nagging feeling like he had done something awful and he just couldn’t remember what.

                Leo went to pull his hand up but it stopped short, a rough binding holding his hand snugly behind his back. “What the…” He tugged on his other hand. The same result. The turtle started to move all of his limbs only to discover that he was hogtied. He pulled so hard his wrists and ankles started to wear and bleed in some spots. His weapons were missing and he was in some dark room, alone. “What the hell is going on here?!” He finally yelled when he realized he couldn’t break the restraints. The door was flung open, the light blinding him for a moment.

                “Leo! Leo, tell me you are normal again!”

                He squinted towards the light and tried to focus on the figure approaching. “Mikey? Mikey what’s… I thought….” He looked around and realized he was on his bed, in his own room. “How’d I get home?” He asked. “Wait, why am I tied up?” He looked up angrily. “What’s going on?!” He started squirming around again

                Donnie entered the room. “You are finally awake. Good. Now it’s just the other two I have to worry about.” He looked to Mikey. “Cut him loose, he’s back to normal clearly.”

                “Clearly.” Leo frowned as his nerd brother left the room.

                Mikey was quick to cut the bindings off the eldest one and pull the ropes away. “Sorry Leo, but we had to. You… you weren’t yourself.” He tried to explain.

                Leo rubbed his sore wrists as he sat upright on his bed. “What is that supposed to mean Mike? Full sentences please.”

                Mikey ran a hand over his face. “A few days ago you broke in, you were acting all crazy… you tried to kill Jack and in the process you nearly cut Ant’s hand in half.”

                He froze. “I did what?” He looked around the room. His weapons were missing, taken by his brothers he presumed. “But I’d… I’d never do that. Jack helped me, Why would I attack her?” His mind hadn’t registered that he didn’t know who Ant was, he was too horrified with the fact he almost killed a poor woman. Getting to his feet he brushed past Mikey and found Donnie hunched down by the sofa handing another turtle a handful of pills. Raph? No… the color was wrong.

                As he came up behind the couch the smaller turtle looked up and jumped, scrambling backwards before he almost screamed when he put his weight on his hand.

                Donatello glared at him. “Leo. Get out of here. Go sit in the dining room.”

                He blinked, astonished that Donnie had been so threatening, so demanding. Leo obeyed and went to sit at the table. He could hear him talking to the other turtle.

                “Calm down. Remember what I said, he’s back to normal, he’s not going to hurt you again. You need to relax and stop jostling your hand or you are going to tear out all those stitches.”

                “I know.” The younger one replied. “He just startled me is all. I wasn’t prepared to see him looming over me.” He held his hand out and Donnie gave him a few painkillers. In a gulp they were gone and he laid down, closing his eyes.

                By the time Donnie was on his way over to the table, Mikey had already joined Leo. “That, would be Antonello.”

                “The turtle Raph brought back.” Leo filled in, remembering catching a glimpse of him briefly when they had been down in the swamp.

                “Yes. You cut his hand in two Leonardo.” Donnie said with a scowl. “I’m not sure it will have much function when it heals.

                Leo ran his hands over his face. “I don’t know what you are talking about. Please, someone tell me what happened. The last thing I remember is sneaking around the Xanus labs down in Georgia. I don’t even know how I got home.” He was frustrated, clearly, as he restrained himself from beating a hand on the table.

                Donnie’s features softened. “You really don’t remember?”

                “No I don’t! Mikey says I wasn’t myself, you say I almost amputated this kids hand… and… where is Jack? Is she okay? I didn’t really hurt her did I?” He was starting to really get worried.

                Donnie sighed. “She’s still unconscious. You guys have been out for four days.”

                Leo jumped to his feet. He looked around the house. “Where is she?” He spied the new addition to the house, the new hallway, and headed towards it. He was stopped when someone grabbed his wrist.

                Mikey was holding him in place. “I wouldn’t.” He suggested. “Raph hasn’t left her side.”

                “They are… close, to say the least. Hurting her, hurt him far more, I think.” Donnie told him.

                Leo stopped and looked from the hallway back to his brothers. “What? He…” He swallowed hard. Pulling his hand from his younger brother’s he frowned. Turning he headed in the other direction. “I’m going to meditate. I need to think.” So he disappeared down the hall and into the meditation room.

                Donnie leaned back into his chair and let his head fall back. “Oh boy… this is not going to be a good week.”

                The one in orange just frowned. “Should we tell Raph that Leo is awake?”

                “We will tell him the next time he comes out.” He rubbed his face. “I just think we need to all sort this out quickly. What ever happened to Leo, it wasn’t his fault. Someone did it to him. We need to figure out what he knows, and what is going on here.”

                “Well you know Raph isn’t going to think clearly until he knows Jack is going to be okay.”

                “Yeah… That’s what worries me. I’m not sure she will be.” Donnie hung his head. “I should have forced him to take her to the hospital.”

               

                Leo was sitting cross legged on the mat in front of the table where the incense was burning. He was taking slow deep breaths in a rhythmic succession as he tried to focus his mind. He needed to think, to remember what had happened. He tried to let the pain in his wrists and ankles just fade into the back ground as he focused on his breathing.

                He wasn’t sure how long he was in there before he opened his blue eyes. Rising to his feet he left the room. Glancing to his right he spied the training room, inside he caught the glint of steal that was his swords, lying on the floor, tossed there like trash. Stepping inside he grabbed them, hesitating as he lifted them. There was blood staining one of the blades. Slipping the clean blade into its sheath on his back, Leo carried the dirty one to the wash bowl against the wall. He washed it off with a frown before drying it off with a towel and replacing it in its sheath.

                Silently, calmly, he walked down the hallway passed where his other brothers had been and headed for Jack’s bedroom. Pausing outside her door, Leo listened. He could hear Raphael inside talking to someone. His voice was softer than he had ever heard, tender almost.

                “Please, just wake up… I can’t…”

                Leo opened the door and in an instant, the strap across his chest was grabbed and he was pinned against the wall. He held up his hands as Raph glared in his face.

                “What are you doing here?” Raph hissed.

                Leo looked passed him and pointed at the bandaged woman on the bed. “I came to check on Jack.”

                His eye narrowed. “Check on her?! You are the one that put her here!” Raph let him go with one more final shove into the wall before he turned around and headed back to the chair at the bedside.

                “I never meant to… I don’t even remember.” Leo tried to explain.

                With a shout Raph whipped around and punched Leo square in the face. “I don’t care!” There was a tear rolling down his face. “I don’t know what to do Leo! She won’t wake up, won’t move… What if…” He turned to the side and let his fist fly into the wall. Plaster and wood crumbled under the pressure. “I can’t bear the thought of losing her. And you!” he pointed at him. “You were so hell bent on killing her… I almost couldn’t stop you. My brother, our leader. How could you break my trust like that?”

                Seeing the tears on his brother’s face hurt Leo. It made him realize just how much he cared for the woman on the other side of the room. The tears hurt him more than the punch he received. But what hurt more was hearing he had lost his brother’s trust. His stomach dropped and his own vision faltered for a moment as Raph’s words echoed in his head.

                It had taken them years to get to the point to accept on another, to listen and follow. Leo had taken so much pride when he received his brother’s blessing. Of course they always had spats like all brother’s do, but they had forged a bond over the years, something so intense he thought nothing would ever break it yet… he had done just that.

                Raph lashed out at the wall again but Leo stepped in the way. “You are going to hurt yourself.” He said softly as he let his brother hit him. Punch after punch landed on him.

                It lasted for a long while, until Raph’s body was trembling from both fatigue and sobbing. Sinking down to his knees Raph hung his head, sitting at his brother’s feet. Leo, now covered in bruises, leaned his aching body down and pulled the heavier body of his brother up.

                “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

                Raph shook his head. “I’m… not leaving… her.” He panted between choked sobs.

                Nodding his older brother helped him to the chair at the side of the bed. Collapsing into the wooden structure, Raph leaned forward and rested his arms and head on the bed. His knuckles were a little bloody, a mixture of his own and his brother’s, but he didn’t really notice. Grasping Jacquelyn’s hand he rested his head against the sheet and closed his eye as he tried to catch his breath.

                Leo watched a moment before he quietly slipped out of the room. Making his way to the kitchen he opened the freezer and found the infamous bag of peas that had been in there forever but never once thought of being used for actual food. Pulling it out he held it against his throbbing chin. Bruises were forming all over the place, his face, arms, chest and torso. He didn’t mind though, he deserved it.

                “You look like hell.”

                Leo glanced over at the sofa where a green figure was rubbing at his bright eyes. His gaze averted, it was the young turtle that he had mutilated. “Yeah…” He didn’t feel like the mighty leader.

                Antonello forced himself up of the couch and drug his feet over to the kitchen. Standing beside Leo he started to rummage through the refrigerator for something to eat.

                Leo glanced around a bit awkwardly as the younger turtle stood next to him. “Look, I’m sorry…”

                “Don’t worry about it.” Ant said as he took a bite of cold pizza. “Donnie explained what happened as best as he could. Said you still need to fill in the blanks but… You weren’t really right in the head.” He gave Leo a lopsided grin.

                He couldn’t help but stare at the bandaged arm he was holding across his body. Unusable. It made another knot form in Leo’s gut. Swallowing hard Leo blinked and looked away. “So uh… What’s your name?”

                “Raph dubbed me Antonello. They all started calling me Ant though, Shadow started that trend.” He chuckled.

                Leo nodded.  “So, you… you didn’t have a name before?” He paused, looking at him again.

                Ant straightened, a piece of pizza hanging from his mouth. Swallowing some he shook his head. “Well I don’t remember anything. So I guess I’m like you in that sense.” He locked eyes with him for a moment.

                Breaking his gaze, Leo looked down at the scar on his chest. “Yeah… I just, wish My memory lapse didn’t include attacking two innocent people.”

                “You must have scared the crap out of Jack.”

                Leo looked up at him, a bit ashamed of what the turtle was saying. The younger one didn’t seem to notice.

                “Raph has been training us to fight. She either completely froze, or you are just that good you thrashed her.” He paused before taking another bite. “I guess there’s always the possibility that Raph was always going easy on her…” He shrugged and took his bite.

                Leo shook his head. “I don’t think he’d go easy on her… But then again…” He thought about how Raph had been acting in Jack’s room. There was no way he’d risk really hurting her during training. He had to have gone easy on her. If she really wanted to improve, she’d need a different teacher to spar against. Of course Raph would teach her proper technique but he’d never actually hit her.  But all of that could wait, first she just had to wake up and be okay. “I need to talk to Don.” He said suddenly.

                Shrugging, Ant followed, curious as to what was going to take place. Besides, he could use some more pain killers. Leo knocked on his brother’s door and a few short moments later it opened up revealing Donatello’s spacious lab. He let them in without a word and went back to his desk to continue his analysis on the object he had plucked from Leonardo’s neck.

                “To what do I owe this intrusion?” Donnie asked as he continued to examine the object.

                “We need to discuss what I found out. And what you have.” Leo glanced at the kid and then to his brother.

                Donnie caught the glance. “He’s fine. He is one of us… You’d know that if you came home sooner.”

                Leo’s eye brow twitched. “I was trying to protect our family.” He said through gritted teeth before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. How had everyone else seemed to get along so well without him while he was still on edge with his whole family? What had these two strangers done while he was gone?

                “I haven’t figured out much about this thing.” Donnie admitted as he leaned back in his chair. He looked over at Ant as the kid picked at his bandages. “Stop it… You’re worse than Mikey…” He mumbled. Rolling his chair over to a different counter he grabbed a bottle of pain killers and tossed them to the younger turtle. “How’s the hand feeling?”

                The turtle pinned the bottle between his bicep and his side so his good hand could twist the top off. “It’s not… beside pain if that’s what you meant.” He frowned. “I can’t really feel much of anything in it.” He tilted the bottle awkwardly and spilled half the bottle’s contents onto his hand and floor. “Shit.” After shoving a few pills in his mouth he knelt down to pick up the scattered white objects.

                Leo dropped to a knee to help.

                “So what did you find out?” Donnie asked as he turned and wrote down some notes only he would understand.

                “Well, Xanus is moving their headquarters up here.” Leo started. “Most of their facilities were empty by the time I figured out how to get into them.”

                “Obviously not all of them or else this wouldn’t have gotten slapped onto you.” Donnie smirked.

                Leo grumbled under his breath. “The Purple Dragons are back.”

                Donnie froze. “What?”

                “I saw someone there with a dragon tattoo. They were talking about the gang, and distributing… something up here. Something that Xanus had been making.” Leo ran a hand over his face. “I also saw some weird looking ninja… Foot maybe. It’s like the Purple Dragons are a recruiting center for the Foot. They are just going to come up here and claim all of the kids that try and join the gang… I didn’t hear anything else. Something hit me in the back of the head. I blacked out and woke up here.”

                “Yeah this hit you.” Donnie slid a petrie dish over with a disassembled unit.

                “No kidding.” Leo rubbed the mark on the back of his neck. “The question is… why not just kill me on sight? Why send me on some wild goose chase?” He held his brother’s stare for a long moment as if he might be able to answer the question but Donatello said nothing. A voice from behind him caught him off guard.

                “Perhaps they wanted you to take care of something for them. Something they couldn’t find?” Ant was leaning against the wall, yawning, struggling to stay awake, the high dose of painkillers kicking in.

                Donatello got to his feet. “You need to get to bed.” He ushered the youngster out of his room and watched his stagger towards his own. Ant only made it half way before diverting to the couch and plopping down on it once more and falling asleep. Turning back to Leo, Donnie shut the door. “What if Ant is right?”

                “What?”

                “What if whoever put this on you wanted you to do something they couldn’t…”

                Leo frowned. “Like what?”

                His green eyes flicked up to meet the blue of his brother’s. “What were you trying to do?” the rhetorical question didn’t wait for an answer. “You were going for Jack.”

                “You are saying someone _wanted_ me to kill her.” Leo scratched his head. “But why? She is just a human, she doesn’t know anything…”

                “Not that we know of.” Donnie looked at him. 


	15. Chapter 15

                Nothing had changed over the next few days except for the aches and pains in Raphael’s body and the growing number of holes in the walls of Jack’s bedroom. He was passed out on the floor, leaning against the wall when he felt someone drape a blanket over him. Only half mumbling something he struggled to open an eye and glance around. Not finding a brother near him his gaze drifted to the bed.

                His heart almost stopped at the sight of the disturbed blankets but empty bed. He was about to jump to his feet when he recalled the weight at his side and glanced down. The woman he had been tending to for the past week and a half was sitting at his side, eyes closed, under the blanket she had draped over them.

                “Jacquelyn…” He breathed. Reaching a hand over he moved a greasy lock of hair from her face and let his finger rest on her cheek a moment until he saw her eyes flicker open.

                She smiled softly, the traces of bruises were still on her face, but they had started to yellow and fade. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She sat up stiffly, clearly still in a fair amount of discomfort.

                The turtle turned towards her and stopped himself from just wrapping his arms around her. Instead his hand landed on her cheek and forced her, gently, to look up at him. His eye flicked across her smiling face. “I was so worried about you.” He slipped his arm around her and pulled her against his chest. “Damn it, I was scared as hell. Don’t ever do that again.”

                She winced a bit and Raph loosened his grip. “Yeah because getting into fights is exactly what I try to do.”

                Suddenly it dawned on Raph that they were on the floor. “You shouldn’t be down here.” Carefully slipping his arms around her he rolled up to his knee and then his feet and took her to the bed. After setting her down he frowned when she refused to lay down and rest again.

                “I’ve laid down enough.” She pushed her messy hair out of her face. “What’s it going to take to get some food?” she mumbled.

                A smirk crossed his face. “Think you can make it to the kitchen?”

                “I’ve been in that bed for a few days now,” She lifted her arm and pretended to smell her arm pit. “I smell disgusting.” She picked up a strand of greasy hair and moved it from her face. “I think I’ve been here long enough.”

                “A few days… Try almost two weeks.” Raph looked at her hard, hoping the gravity hit her.  His features softened and he sat down beside her pulling her into his arms once more. “I thought I might have lost you there.” He whispered.

                Her features flushed as she wrapped her arms around him. “I don’t plan on going anywhere any time soon.” She chuckled to cover her nerves. “So uh… how about some food before I get a shower. I feel kind of gross.”

                Nodding Raph got to his feet but he wasn’t happy at the sight of the purple handprint his brother had left on Jack’s neck. Offering her his hands, he pulled her to her feet but she was clearly still in pain. “You were out, we couldn’t exactly tell what was wrong with you besides what was clearly discolored. What hurts?” He asked flatly.

                Pointing to her side she frowned. “Hurts to breathe quite a bit.” She admitted.

                Without a hesitation, Raphael lifted up the edge of her shirt to see the injury. Oblivious to her red face, or his proximity he gently prodded the tender, bruised skin with a large finger. Her small wince got him to stop, as well as her short breaths.

                “I think you broke a few ribs.” He explained. Straightening, he looked at her face and caught the red hue, confused for only a moment until he realized the reason why she was blushing. “Sorry.” He mumbled.

                “it’s okay.”

                Raph ran a hand over his face. “I know you don’t want to but you still need to rest. Especially if you broke some ribs like I think you did.” He glanced around. “Why don’t you get a bath and I’ll make you something good to eat, something… easy on the stomach. It’ll be ready when you are done.”

                She nodded slowly. “Okay, I think I can manage that.”

                Offering her his arm, Raph helped her hobble down the hallway towards the bathroom. He plugged up the tub and started up the hot water before finding a clean towel and setting it on the sink for her. “Just yell if you need something okay?”

                “I will. Thanks Raph.” She smiled weakly before lowering to a seat on the edge of the bath tub.

                Raphael let himself out, shutting the door behind him. But instead of leaving he leaned back against the door and closed his eyes. It felt like a giant weight had just been lifted off of his shoulders. Jack was awake. She wasn’t completely fine but she was awake and talking and right now that was all he wanted. A big three fingered hand went up to his chest where his heart was thudding heavily. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take of this. Running his scarred hand over his face again he stood up straight and made his way to the kitchen.

                Mikey instantly stopped his video game when he heard noise in the kitchen. Turning around he spied his brother and hopped over the arm of the couch. “Hey Raph! Is everything okay?”

                He nodded. “Jacquelyn is in the shower.”

                The youngest brother froze. “Jack’s awake?”

                He nodded again.

                “Jack’s awake!” Mikey took off running and banged on Donnie’s door before he just flung it open. “Donnie! Jack is awake!”

                The turtle looked up from his books and smiled. “I heard you the first time.” He closed his book. “How is she feeling?”

                Mikey paused. “I… don’t know. She’s in the shower, Raph just said she was awake.”

                Donatello frowned slightly. Pushing his things aside he got to his feet and grabbed the first aid kit that he now kept out at all times since he had been changing Antonello’s bandages regularly. “I should probably have a look at her.”

                Walking out to the kitchen, Mikey followed. Donatello was surprised to find Ant standing at the stove mixing something hazardously with his left hand as he slowly flexed the fingers of his right, bandaged hand at his side. His eyes flicked down to the form that was slumped over at the table, softly snoring.

                “This is an interesting sight.” Donnie commented idly as he and Mikey walked in.

                Mikey went to shake Raph awake but stopped when Don shook his head.

                Ant looked over his shoulder and shrugged. “I found him like that. The soup was almost boiling over so I figured I better look after it.” He glanced in the direction of the hall. “I heard movement down the hall so I figured he was making this for Jack. I just don’t know how he could have fallen asleep while standing at a stove.”

                “He’s exhausted.” Donnie told him.

                “But he hasn’t done anything.” Mikey protested as he stared down at his sleeping brother.

                Shaking his head he continued. “He’s been worried, and I mean almost terrified that Jack was going to die. Do you remember how that felt? That fear about Master Splinter? Imagine feeling that again. He hasn’t been resting at all. His nerves have been shot, his anger has been out of control, and now that she is finally awake and able to say she is okay, Raph can calm down and rest. He can let himself not be on guard duty 24/7.”

                Antonello moved the pot of soup off of the heat and set it on a back burner after he put a lid on it. Turning around he nodded but paused. “So… do you think he’s seen Leo yet?”

                “I doubt it. He wouldn’t be sleeping if he had. There would be more holes in the walls and a lot less sleeping.” Donnie set the first aid kit on the table and motioned for the other two to follow him. “Come on let’s leave him be.”

 

                Leonardo heard some shuffling coming from Raphael’s room. It was about time he left the wounded woman alone to rest, besides, they needed to talk. Without a knock, Leo threw open the door, fists ready to defend himself against his brother’s undoubted assaults. “Looks Raph I know your pissed at me but…” The words died in his mouth as he stared at a red faced Jacquelyn standing in a towel in the middle of his room. Her long pale hair was still soaking wet, dripping water down her face and neck as she clutched the towel over herself. What he could see of her body was still covered in yellowing bruises, the most prominent being the dark one circling her neck, as well as scrapes and cuts. “Jack…” His eyes were wide.

                “uh… Hi Leo.” She mumbled, limping slightly as she made sure the towel was closed around her.

                The turtle just stood there.

                She shifted nervously. “What are you doing Leo?”

                “I uh, wanted to talk to Raph.” He said dumbly, still standing in the doorway.

                “Well raph isn’t in here and you are staring. Do you mind?”

                His features reddened slightly as he finally removed his eyes from her. “Sorry.” He took a step back and quietly left the room. Shaking his head he took a deep breath and headed out towards the common area. He paused between the kitchen and living room when he spied Raph sleeping at the kitchen table but turned and headed towards his other brothers on the sofa.

                “When was someone going to tell me that Jack was awake?” Leo demanded as he came into the room.

                “I figured I’d let Raph or Jack be the one to tell you since you know… She can talk.” Donnie looked at him. “Although I’d let Raph sleep before you two have it out. You know how unpredictable he is when he is exhausted.”

                Leo’s brow twitched. They needed to talk. Now. It had been weeks since his arrival home, who knew how much Xanus and the foot had accomplished in that time. He ran a hand over his face before turning around. “I’ll be meditating. Get me as soon as he wakes up.” He turned and stomped off.

                Mikey watched him go and then looked over at Donnie and Ant. “What’s up his ass?”

                Ant shrugged. Donnie just shook his head. Mikey looked around the room and drummed his fingers on his legs. He glanced at the giant empty space that once held their television. Now, nothing. He sighed and sank back into the couch. “I’m so bored. We need a new T.V.”

                “Sorry I can’t help you. I have more research, and work to do.” Donnie got to his feet and went back to his room leaving the younger two alone in the silence.

                “Hey Mikey?”

                The one wearing orange looked over at the youngest addition to their family. “Yeah dude?”

                “I need your help with something.” He leaned forward and propped his elbows up on his knees. “See I was talking to Don about my hand and well, I think we both realize I’m not going to have much use of it. I can move my fingers but just barely. There is no way I’d be able to grip my weapon.” He sighed as he picked at the bandage on his hand.

                Mikey swallowed hard. They all knew it, but it was just something they didn’t want to talk about, they weren’t sure how to fix the situation.

                “I was thinking that maybe we can make something though. I mean my arm isn’t useless and I still want to be able to help fight. So I was thinking that if we make like an arm guard or something, you know so it covers my forearm and the back of my hand, then I can use my left hand to swing a weapon and the right as a kind of blocker to parry any blows.” He scratched his head. “I just don’t know what kind of stuff we could make it out of.”

                “That is actually a brilliant idea.” Mikey scratched his head. “I don’t know what we could make it out of either but I’m sure Don could help us think of something.” He got to his feet an motioned for Ant to follow him to the other turtles room so they could discuss this new idea.

                They weren’t in the room for maybe twenty minutes when they heard a loud scream. Ant was the first one out again. Despite his injury, he held his fists up, ready to defend or attack whatever was happening. Yet the young turtle froze, Mikey and Don almost smacking into his back. The sight that greeted them wasn’t what he had been expecting.

                There was a tall green skinned reptilian woman her hand wrapped around the upper arm of Jack as she dragged her into the living room. Poor Jack was barely dressed, only in her bra and underwear she was holding a small blanket over herself as Mona dragged her into the hallway.

                “What the fuck are you doing naked in Raph’s room?!” She demanded.

                Jack was on the verge of tears. “Please. Let me go..” She gasped.

                “Mona what the hell are you doing?” Mikey moved around the stunned Antonello and approached the rage filled woman.

                “I found this… this… whore! Practically naked in Raphael’s room!” She threw Jacquelyn forward at Mikey. Jack was wheezing, as Mikey wrapped an arm around her and pulled the towel up to help cover her.

                Ant stepped up. “What the hell does it matter? It’s not like you’re with him so why do you care if there is a girl in his room or not?” He was glaring at her.

                His question had clearly caught her off guard. Cheeks blooming red she started to stammer. “W-well I… She… She shouldn’t have been here in the first place. Human’s don’t belong with us.”

                “You are really one to talk Mona. You were human once.” Donnie commented as he came up to Mikey and Jack’s side. He frowned as he listened to Jack’s painful breaths.

                “I think my ribs are broken, I can’t breathe,” She mumbled, struggling to straighten her body against the pain.

                “You can breathe. You are fine. Just calm down and relax.” Donnie said calmly, his voice soft, trying to reassure her. “I’ll wrap your ribs to stabilize them and it should help some.” He looked to his brother. “Help her to the couch.”

                “You guys are unbelievable.” Mona Lisa fumed.

                At the table Raph was grumbling as the noise was finally starting to wake him up. “Why the hell is it so noisy in here?” He rubbed his hand over his face, slowly blinking his one eye open. When his gaze settled on Mikey helping a half-naked Jack to the sofa he started to rouse more quickly, stumbling to his feet. “Jacquelyn? Y’alright?” He froze. “Mona? What are you doing here?”        

                “Trying to keep you from getting into trouble with whores like her!” She pointed to Jack.

                A growl escaped Raph and he was about to lunge at her but someone beat him to it.

                “You shouldn’t speak about Jack that way.” Leo’s voice was stern as he glared down at the woman that was once a human.

                She whirled around. “Leo?!” She flung her arms around his neck. “When did you get home? I thought… I thought you were still down south!”

                He pulled her arms off of him. “Well I’m home now. What are you doing here? Why are you barging in Raph’s room and harassing Jack?”

                “She…” Her eyes got wide as she looked between the two turtles and then the woman. “He…” She was getting defensive. “I was just trying to make sure things here were okay while you were gone.”

                He nodded, but it was clear he didn’t really believe her. “Well, things are okay. You can go now.”

                “Go?! But.. I want to see you.. It’s been months!” She protested, stomping her foot.

                “I have things I need to take care of first before I can just hang out with you Mona. I’ll call you later.” He escorted her to the door and made her leave with a sigh he shook his head before turning around.

                Raphael was standing there glaring at him. “Giving her the key was a mistake.” He said through gritted teeth. “And if she hurts Jack again, I won’t hesitate to do something about it.” He turned to leave.

                Leo grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn back around. “What Raph? Are you going to fight my fiancé? Punch your ex-girlfriend?” His eyes narrowed as he glared down at his brother.  “Does that really seem like a smart thing to do?!”

                With a scream Raphael launched his fist at his brother and connected it with his face. Fist after fist collided with Leonardo to fast for the elder turtle to get his hands up and defend himself.

                Donatello looked up from the woman wheezing on the sofa before him and the bandages in his hands. “Raph! Stop it!” His hand slipped and Jack winced under his normally careful touch.

                “Donnie what’s going on?”

                Mikey shook his head.

                “Nothing just stay here.” She couldn’t see over the back of the couch anyway so no need to freak her out. Donnie tied off her bandages and got to his feet to intercede on his brother’s fight but Ant was already there.

                A bandaged hand grabbed Raph’s fist while the other shoved Leo away, his own body moving between them to separate them. “That is enough!” He shouted. The force of Raph’s potential punch made his hand jerk and tore the stitches, ripping the healing flesh of his wound. The bandages started to turn red but the young mutant ignored the pain for now. Now that he had the others attention he planned on keeping it. “I am sick and tired of you two and your half-assed attempt of showing who has the bigger set! That is not what is fucking important!” He was pissed, it was the first time the happy-go-lucky kid showed another emotion so clearly. “What is important is what the hell is going on with that damn company, and why the hell they tried to make you kill Jack!” He let them both go and let a breath out. “Now, get your heads out of your asses and focus on what really matters!” Shaking his head he walked away from them and over to where Donnie stood speechless.

                “Damn.” Mikey was sitting on the edge of the sofa, looking over the back of it at the display as Jack clung to his hand.

                “Mikey, what’s going on?” She asked him. “Mikey!”

                Before he could answer though Raphael was kneeling at the side of the sofa. “Don’t worry. Everything is fine.” He gently took her hand from his brother and stroked the back of it awkwardly with his thumb as he tried to not look down at the nearly exposed body of the woman at his side.

                “Don’t lie to me Raphael!” She tried to snap but started coughing a moment before she calmed herself and took a few slow breaths.

                He sighed. “Sorry… We just have some serious things to work out.” He gently squeezed her hand. “You just need to focus on getting some more rest though. Nothing for you to worry about.” As carefully as he could, he slipped his arms under her and lifted her. The painful sounds she made caused a knot to form in his chest but he didn’t stop. Despite the redness burning his face, he carried the woman back to her bedroom where he laid her down carefully.

                “I don’t want to be in here, I have been in bed forever!” She protested, but she didn’t make a move to actually get out of bed.

                Raph sighed and pulled the blankets up over her. “I know, I’m sorry. I just… You need to rest and I … I’m afraid I’m going to do something stupid and start another fight. I don’t want you getting hurt again.” He admitted without looking at her, embarrassed by the fact that he had to say it. “I’ll get you some dinner so just… try and relax.” 


	16. Chapter 16

_Gang activity is on the rise._

_City crime rate skyrockets._

_Xanus Pharmaceuticals making headway on animal trials._

_Xanus seeking new patents._

Donatello had a bunch of newspaper headlines pulled up on one of the screens of the computers in his lab. He shook his head as his brother’s crowded around. “Xanus is obviously making a name for themselves already.” He flipped through a page. “But If we look over here, you can see that the Purple Dragons are clearly on a rampage again. Why they are out and causing such a fuss I can’t piece together. Their crimes don’t seem to make sense.” Donnie ran a hand over his face. “I have all the major news networks, websites and media sites flagged for the key words to do with xanus and the Dragons so I’ll keep an eye on it but that is about all I can do from here.”

                “What we need to do is train and get back into shape so we are prepared when shit goes down.” Raphael snorted.

                “Shit isn’t going to ‘go down’ unless we make it.” Leo rolled his eyes. “First we have to figure out what exactly Xanus is doing messing around with the mutagen. And we have to figure out a way to stop him.”

                “Doing that requires getting past the Purple dragons and all the foot.” Ant’s voice piped up from behind them all. They weren’t used to having him in the big family debates. “And for that we do need training.”

                “He has a point.” Mikey looked at his older brothers.

               

                So that’s what the boys did for the next few weeks. They trained. Donatello took extra time to help Ant with his hand, they even managed to make a mold of his arm and cast a guard made of Kevlar. Without his grip in that right hand, the kusarigama wasn’t working that well, but he still had a good control and amazing power behind his swings and blows with the weapon. Raphael talked things over with Donnie and they settled on the Ono, a battle axe.

                The boys spent hours every day training. Then they would go out at night and see if they could test out their newly learned skills and messing up the Purple Dragon’s plans never hurt anything either.

                While the boys busied themselves with that, Jack had her own agenda. She hated being in bed and not being able to help them so it started off small. First she just focused on being able to stand and walk without hurting. She’d make the boy’s breakfast and lunch, make sure they took time to eat throughout the day. But then once her ribs started to feel better she started to get back into her own training regimen on her own. It started off small as well. Pushups and sit-ups and stretches mostly. But slowly she moved into the more advanced stretches her gymnastics was used to and her exercises became more intense. Of course it was all on her own, she’d never tell Raph or let him see for fear of him freaking out.

 

                Raphael and Antonello were up on the street. It was a little after two in the morning, the city was dark, most were sleeping, most of the good people anyway. The only light came from a few dim street lights that flickered in the alley they were near. Raph was sitting crouched on a fire escape ladder looking down at the group of Purple Dragon’s below them. He glanced across the alley to where Ant was hunched in a dark window peering down at the same scene.

                They didn’t seem to be doing anything at the moment. Just standing there and talking. Raph signaled to Ant and then swung down to a lower perch on the fire escape with expert precision silence. Ant shimmied down to a lower perch as well to get a better view. What they heard next was not what they had been expecting.

                “…hasn’t been seen in more than a month. We need to find her.” The oldest, a man with a shaved head and a tight leather vest over his muscled chest was telling the other teenagers. He had a huge tattoo snaking around his arm that reminded Raph of one of the anime characters Mikey always watched. But this tattoo was of course, a purple dragon. The big man ran a hand over his head, it glinted in the flickering street light and he sighed. “She will ruin all the plans if she gets into the corporation. If you guys ever hope of climbing up the ranks, becoming real Foot… you have to go out and find all you can on her. We know she is here in the city.”

                The younger kids whispered excitedly.

                “Jacquelyn Marie Garver. She is our target. We must locate and capture her. The original plan to eliminate her has failed so things have changed. You are to acquire all intel you can on her and report directly to me. Got it?”

                “Yes sir!” They sang out in unison.

                Then the smallest one in the group raised his hand.

                The bald man grunted. “What is it Runt?”

                “What did this chick do? I mean… why exactly are we all going after her? Sending the whole gang…. Isn’t it a bit over kill?”

                “This woman can single handedly bring down our entire existence. Do you want that?” The boy shook his head. “Do you want to lose a place to call home?” He shook his head again. “Your family?” The bald man gestured to the others standing around him. “Then help us find her so we can get rid of her.”

                “Yes sir.”

                The kids dispersed, heading out in a few pairs and small groups leaving the big man standing there alone.

 

                Antonello looked over at the turtle he thought of as a brother. He swallowed hard as he watched Raph’s grip tighten on his sai. This wasn’t going to be pretty. Ant dropped down to the alley floor, still in the shadow of the brick wall, waiting for Raph’s temper to lead him to do something stupid. 3…2…1…Raph launched himself at the big bald man.

                They collided and smacked into the dumpster with a loud clang of metal against the brick wall.

                “Fuck.” Ant mumbled as he darted across the lit section of the alley.

                Raph was already beating his fists into the man, in the darkness behind the dumpster. “Why are you after her?!” He roared. “Tell me!”

                The man laughed between choked breaths that came with each blow. He threw Raph off of him and made it to his feet just as Ant circled him. “So you know the bitch?” He didn’t seem surprised at all to see two giant turtles standing before him. “Maybe I’ll just have my crew follow you two.”

                “Good luck with that!” Ant shouted as he charged the man from behind. Knocking him down Raph grabbed one of his bulky fists before it could be thrown at his littlest brother.

                Gritting his teeth, Raph pressed the tip of his sai to the man’s throat. “Tell me why you are after the woman.” He said again.

                The bald man just grinned. “I’m not telling you turtle. You’d be better off killing me.”

 

                “You should probably be taking it easy. Raph is going to be pissed if you hurt yourself.”

                Jack frowned over at Mikey, as she paused in her routine. “What he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him. I’ve been training myself for weeks now. I am sick and tired of just lying in bed. I don’t want to be useless when something happens and you guys actually need me. Or I need to defend myself.”

                Mikey ran a hand over his face. “At least let Donnie look at you before you do anything too hard? I mean… I am _not_ going to spar with you until he says it’s okay.”

                The woman rolled her eyes and steadied the swaying heavy bag with her hand before she walked to the door of the training room. She smiled and patted Mikey on the arm. “You guys take such good care of me.” She moved past him and headed to his brothers room to get the OK to train, even though she’d do it without it anyway.

                “Only because you take such good care of us!” Mikey called after her.

                She simply waved over her shoulder before she stopped at Donnie’s door. Her knuckle’s tapped on his door before she heard a muffled ‘come in.’ Stepping inside she wondered over to his desk and leaned back on it as he held up a finger, finishing a conversation on his headset with one of the customers from his IT job. Jack picked at a loose thread of her yoga pants while she waited for him to finish.

                “Ahem…” Her red face looked up to meet his. “I can see you have been training… Against better judgment most likely.”

                Jack looked down at her sports bra and pants. It had become her standard training outfit but sometimes she forgot to put a shirt on afterwards and it still caught her off guard when they called her on it. “Uh… Yeah. I just got sick and tired of doing nothing. I don’t want to get too far behind you guys.” She wrapped her arms around her exposed mid-section. “Mikey wont train with me though until you say I’m okay.”

                “That’s because he knows Raph will kill him if you get hurt on his account.” Donnie got to his feet and gestured to the table on the other side of his room.  After Jack sat down he grabbed the med kit and did a rundown of her injuries, checking how far along they were in healing. Then her joints, to make sure none of them were still sprained or damaged. Last he checked her breathing and ribs, as well as the motion of her torso. The ribs were what worried him most. He wasn’t sure how truthful his restless patient was being when she said it was okay. “Well, things seem to be fine as far as I can tell… so ease back into training. No brutal hits, work up to those.” He let a smile show.

                Jack nodded and hopped off the table to head to the door. “Thanks.” She paused. “Oh… I have another favor to ask.”

                Donatello quirked a brow. “What’s that?”

                “Um, well… I was kinda in the process of getting a job when all this stuff with Leo went down. Do you think you could fudge me up some fake doctor’s papers? Say I was in a car wreck or something? Let me take them to the place and apologize at least. I don’t expect them to give me the job. Probably filled it already, but I figured I might want to let them know…. Which reminds me, the whole point of that job was to get Raph a present for his birthday, which is in like a week.” She frowned. “Did you ever get a hold of that Usagi guy?”

                He rolled his eyes. “So many demands. Yes, back when you first asked, and yes… I’ll get you some fake papers tonight between my calls.”

                “Thanks!” She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek before rushing out of the room. The young woman headed to her rom but stopped when she heard noises coming from the training room. Poking her head in she sighed when she saw Leo. He had joined in the groups training, started to help with instructing Ant when Raph would let him and as a group they worked well together. But… he could hardly look at Jack. “Knock knock?” She said softly as she rapped on the door.

                Leo let his hands fall to his sides before he turned around. He didn’t say anything just looked at her for a moment before turning back around and striking out at the heavy bag.

                “Come on Leo… please don’t ignore me.” She stepped inside the room and leaned against the wall. “You know I’m not angry at you. I don’t blame you for anything.”

                He let out a snarl that sounded oddly like Raphael and then turned to face her. “I know that.” He said, vastly calmer, he seemed anyway. “But I do. I have never felt such a lack of control or understanding.” He ran his hands over his face. “I hurt you, and Ant. Friends… No, more like family.” He let out something that was almost a laugh. “I have betrayed one of the people I care about the most and I can probably never salvage that relationship.”

                Jack saw the glimmer of a tear fall off his face in the dim light. “Nothing is destroyed, and no one is perfect. Don’t take all this blame on yourself. You talk as though your relationship with Raph will never mend. He is your brother and although he is angry, he will forgive you. It may just take time.”

                He took a shaky breath as he wiped at his face and looked at her. “You sound like Master Splinter.” There was that awkward smile again.

                “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”

                His smile faded as he slid to a seat against the wall.

                “What is it?” Jack stepped closer, kneeling in front of him.

                “I am worried about Mona…” He sighed. “She was always the one area of my life where I didn’t have to be so strict, I didn’t have to follow every single rule.” This time a sincere smile as he stared of into the distance. “She always let me loosen up, like Mike says, I’m wound way too tight sometimes.”

                Jack nodded. “Okay… So what worries you about her?”

                “She is obsessed with becoming human again. And I come home to find out she has been harassing Raph for the entirety of my trip? I only proposed to her recently, I mean… What if she hasn’t really gotten over him?”

                That made Jack pull back a bit. “Get over him? I don’t understand.” Despite Raphael’s full and explicit confession to the woman, she wasn’t conscious to hear it. Leo’s revelation, surprised her.

                “When we first met Mona Lisa, she was a student, kind of like you, caught up in the wrong situation. Mutated by the mutagen with a lizard’s DNA. That’s how we got the Mona that you know, the Mona I love. But after we initially dispatched the people for that incident and she started hanging around, she had a thing with Raph. They were just friends to him I think, no matter how much she wanted to be more. When he said no, Mona disappeared for a while. She came back and we started dating, that while he was with Ninjara, but that didn’t last for him either. That’s the short version anyway…”

                “Oh, I see…”

                Leo shook his head. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t be burdening you with this. I should go meditate for a while. Then I’ll feel better.” He got to his feet and grabbed his swords.

                “Leo?”

                He stopped at the door and looked back at her.

                “Any woman would be privileged to have you.”

                He didn’t say anything, just walked out.

                Jacquelyn sighed and got to her feet as well. Walking out she headed to the bathroom to shower and clean up after her workout. She didn’t feel so excited and chipper after that conversation with Leo. _Of course he has had other girlfriends_. She thought as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair. _But why do I feel like that information makes me sick… the thought of him with someone else makes me want to puke._ Jack shook her head. “Stop it. He doesn’t feel anything for you.” She was quick to finish up her shower and scurry to her room since she was only wrapped in her towel.

                When she shut the door and turned around she smiled. On her bed were a few papers typed up, filled in and signed by some ‘doctor’. Poking her head out the door she called out across the house. “Thanks Donnie!” Setting the papers on her dresser and out of the way, she dried herself off and pulled on some shorts and a tee shirt to sleep in. It was really late, or early depending on your view, in the morning she’d go to the café and see about that job.

                Jack was about to walk over to Raphael’s room to crawl into his hammock and wait for him but she hesitated, chewing on her lip. “Maybe I shouldn’t… What if…”She shook her head and went back to her own bed. Crawling under her blanket she curled up on her side and closed her eyes. _I wonder what’s taking him and Ant so long anyway…_ She sighed and tried to sleep.

 

                Raphael stopped at the entrance of his home and looked at Antonello. Both were tired, panting. There was blood dripping from the ends of their weapons as well as their knuckles and hands. There were scrapes and cuts scattered across their bodies, but nothing major. Ant’s mask was stained.

                “You tell no one what we did. Ya got it?”

                Ant nodded. “I won’t.”

                Raph sighed. “I’m sorry I had ta drag ya in to that but I am not about to let ‘m get anywhere-”

                “I know Raph.” Ant looked up at him. “Jackie is like a sister to me. I don’t want anything to happen to her either.”

                The one eyed turtle opened the door and let them inside. It was dark, silent. The only light was coming from under Donnie’s door. Raph looked at Ant. “Go wash up.” He whispered. AS the younger turtled went down to the bathroom and started up the shower, Raph went to the kitchen sink and started to wash up. He found abrasions and cuts across his hands and knuckles, and despite the stinging of the soap, he just stared down at the reddish water, expressionless as it swirled down the drain. Grabbing a dish towel he got it wet and started to wipe the blood off of his face and chest and any other place he could find. He threw the towel angrily into the corner of the counter after wiping off his weapons.

                Raph walked to his room and opened the door. The room was empty. He didn’t bother going in, he needed to see her, needed to know she was okay, that she was still there. That she was tangible and living. That they hadn’t killed her.

                Opening up her bedroom door he felt the muscles in his neck loosen a bit. Jack was sleeping in her bed, just like he had hoped. Yet the turtle couldn’t bring himself to move, to go back to his own room. Running a hand over his face he stood in her door way, watching her calm face as she slept. _I can’t do this…_ He squeezed his eye shut. _I killed someone because they were going to come for you._ He dropped his sai to the floor and kicked the door shut behind him. _The thought of losing you, of someone hurting you again is unbearable…_ He knelt down on the side of her bed and laid down behind the woman curled up on her side. _I really do love you don’t I…_ Raph wasn’t sure how to rationalize the omission to himself as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to his chest. “…please… don’t think I’m a monster.” He buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath of the familiar scent he was so fond of, trying to urge sleep to come.

 


	17. Chapter 17

                Raphael slowly opened his eye, grumbling as he tried to wake himself. His big hands closed around the warm blankets in front of him, but there was no body there, just an empty spot slowly growing colder. “Jacquelyn?” He asked groggily as he pushed himself up to a seat. Finally looking around, the turtle discovered that the woman was no longer at his side. The blanket was now draped around him.  Grumbling to himself, Raphael threw the blanket off and got to his feet. His body ached and his muscles were tight as he grabbed his weapons from the floor and shoved them back into his belt.

                Stomping out to the kitchen Raph looked around and wasn’t surprised to find all his brothers crowded around the kitchen table. Rubbing his temples he looked around the room. There were the four turtles but no humans. “Where is Jacquelyn?” He asked as he looked around.

                Mikey looked over his shoulder. “It’s about time you woke up dude. You’ve been asleep half the day!”

                He looked over at the clock. It was two in the afternoon. His gaze flashed to Ant and he motioned with his head. The younger turtle got to his feet with his plate and followed Raph to the training room.

                “What is going on? How long have I been sleeping?” Raph asked as soon as the other turtle had come into the room.

                Antonello shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean… I slept a bit later than I wanted to but, Mikey jumped on top of me this morning to wake me up. I probably could have slept longer.” He took a bite of his pizza. “You have been passed out in Jack’s room since we got back last night. What we did… I think really wiped us out.”

                “That doesn’t tell me where Jack is. Does she know about last night?” _Does she know what I did for her?_

                The younger turtle shook his head. “I don’t know what she knows. She made us breakfast, put on some nice clothes and then left a little bit ago, once we were all fed.”

                Raph grunted and ran his hand over his face. “Did she say where she was going at least?”

                He shook his head.

                “Shit.” He turned around and punched the heavy bag as hard as he could.

 

                Jack straightened out the little polo shirt she was wearing as she stood out front of the little café on the corner of the street. Taking a deep breath she pulled open the door and walked inside. It smelled like coffee and muffins. There were a few people milling about, sitting with laptops and books at the small tables enjoying their warm beverages. Lucky for Jack, she still saw the ‘Help Wanted’ sign on the door when she walked in. Walking up to the counter she saw a young woman about her own age with wild dark hair that looked red in the right light. When Jack approached, pale brown eyes flicked up from the book she had splayed open on the counter.

                She tried to casually slide the book to the side like she wasn’t supposed to have it out. “Um… Hi. Can I help you?” She asked as she tucked a curly lock of her red hair behind her ear.

                Jack smiled. “Hi, I um, applied for a job here a while back and got it. But uh…” She pulled the papers out of her back pocket. “I was in a car accident the next day. I was cooped up in bed for weeks and couldn’t do much so I never made it in to my first day. I was wondering if I could talk to someone about if that position is still open?” She cringed a bit, already expecting the worse.

                The girl blinked a few times. “Um… Let me go get the manager. One second.”

                A tall man with greying hair came out from the back and quirked a brow at her. It was the same guy that interviewed her the first time. He motioned her over to the table in the corner. Jack walked over and sat down with the man to talk about everything. It was interesting, discussing where she disappeared to and how she wanted to come and actually start working for them. After about a half hour they had things worked out, a rough schedule and pay and plan for her to come in for training tomorrow.

                Standing, Jack shook his hand. “Thank you very much Mr. Jenson.”

                “No problem Jack. Just, avoid those car accidents between now and tomorrow, okay?”

                She laughed. “Will do.” Walking back over to the counter she caught the red head reading her book once more. Clearing her throat Jack smiled. “Excuse me. Hi, I’m Jack. I am starting here tomorrow. Mr. Jenson said I would be training with you so I just wanted to introduce myself.” She held out her hand.

                The other girl looked at her for a moment, Sticking her finger between the yellowing pages of the hardback book. Her other hand grasped Jack’s. “Arionna.” She said softly. “Welcome to the most boring job in the world.”

She half chuckled, almost still kind of nervous. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

                Giving her a wave, Jack left the café and started walking back home. She stepped into the alley and when the coast was clear, crawled down into the man hole that led to the tunnel system that would take her to the place she called home. When she stepped inside, the woman was surprised to only see Antonello milling about in the living room.

                “Hey Ant.” She stuck her hands in her back pockets. “Where is everyone?” She glanced around.

                The turtle was adjusting the straps on his arm guard when she walked in. He shrugged. “Mikey is training, Leo is mediating and Donnie is in his lab.” He paused and blinked a few times. “Wow that doesn’t sound like a giant cliché.” He shook his head a chuckled.

                “What about Raph?” Jack asked as she plopped down to a seat beside him.

                He nodded. “Oh yeah, he went up to see Casey, just a few minutes ago actually.”

                Jack quirked a brow. “At this hour? But it’s daylight…” She frowned. “What would he be going up there now for? It’s dangerous…”

 

                Casey pulled back the curtain on his fire escape window. He blinked in surprise when he saw his best friend shrouded in a trench coat and hat. Wrenching the window open Casey nearly dragged the turtle inside. “Dude! What the hell are you doing out at this hour?!”

                Raph almost smiled as he straightened up and took off his disguise. “Sorry dude, I just needed to talk.”

                “You risked discovery to come over to talk?” The hockey player looked at him with a face of disbelief.

                Raph fell into a seat on the sofa and watched the little black haired toddler wobble over and look up at him while sucking on his thumb. The turtle ruffled his hair before looking up at the boy’s father. “Yeah, I really… I just… I think I am losing my mind.”

                Casey went to the fridge and grabbed a pair of beers, popping them open he handed one to Raph before he sat down. “Why is that?”

                “Jacquelyn.”

                He took a swig. “What about her?”

                Raphael sighed. “Have you ever gotten so distracted by someone that you can’t do a single thing without them being there?”

                Casey just quirked a brow.

                “I just… I have tried to focus, tried to concentrate on other tings but I can’t.”

                “So what, you like her. Big deal.”

                Raphael grunted. “Ya don’t understand!” He said through gritted teeth. “I can’t fall asleep without havin’ her beside me. If I don’t know she is safe, I can’t rest. I’m trainin’ her to fight but the actual thought of her fightin’ scares the shit outta me!”

                “Then why are you teaching her to fight dip shit? If you don’t want her to then-”

                “Because she has the potential ta be one of the best fighters I have ever seen!” Raphael looked at him.  “She can move like none of us can! There are things that turtles can’t do Case!”

                The human ran a hand over his face and looked over at his son playing on the blanket spread out on the floor. “So why are you telling me all this? Why aren’t you telling her?”

                “Because how’s a human ever gonna love some monster like me?!”

                They both froze. Had he really just said _love_? Out loud?

                Raphael shook his head. “It’s bad enough that I know the world looks at me like a freak, but the thought of her looking at me like that.” He put his hands on his head, his fingers digging into his scarred dome.  “I can’t bear the thought a her lookin’ at me that way…. Of her hatin’ me.  She is the first person ta stick around long enough ta see past my anger, my fuckin’ temper and not give a damn when I lose it!”

                “Raph…Raph!” Casey put a hand on his arm. “Calm down you’re scaring C.J.” The toddler was whimpering in the corner. As soon as the turtle had taken enough deep breaths to not blow his top, Casey continued. “And ya know… Jack has been living with you guys for going on a year now. I’m pretty sure she has seen all your habits and downfalls. If she wasn’t ready to handle them, I think she would have left by now.”

                “So what the hell am I supposed ta do?”

                “Talk to her ya idiot! Stop talking to me and tell the woman how you feel!” Casey smacked him in the back of his head.

                “Yeah because that’d go over so well…” Raph pushed himself up to his feet with an angry grunt. He resisted the urge to just punch something. “Things were so much easier before she was here…” He mumbled.

                “But you were miserable.” Casey looked up at his friend. “You are much happier with her here.”

                “Fuck! I know!” He ran his hands over his face. “I just…. I’ve messed everything else up! How am I _not_ going to mess this up?”

                Casey shrugged and got to his feet. “I don’t know. But I wish you luck.”

                Raphael grabbed his coat and went to the window. “Damn, it’s still light out. What was I thinking coming over here so early.”

                “Good question.”

                Raph shook his head and put his disguise on and climbed out the window. He had to scurry down the fire escape and make quick work to get back into the sewer. He hesitated before he pulled open the door to his home. Stepping inside he threw his coat aside and looked around. The living room was oddly empty, normally Mikey was always loafing around in there. Perhaps it was still the lack of television that had him actually getting into shape.

                Walking through the house he heard noises coming from the training room and was surprised to find everyone in there.  Everyone. All his brothers and Jack. Leo was behind Jack, moving her into a better defensive posture but all Raph could do was focus on his brother’s hands as they touched Jack’s waist and back, urging her body to move. He shook his head and took a deep breath before opening the door the whole way and stepping inside.

                “Raph!” Jack looked up at him. Ignoring what Leo had just done she rushed over to him. “Where have you been all day! I was worried…”

                He thought he caught a blush across her face, but it could have just been flushed from her workout. “I went to visit Casey.” He said simply.

                “At this hour?” She looked up at him a bit concerned as she brushed a drop of sweat off her forehead. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

                He nodded slowly. “Yeah…”

                She reached out and smacked his arm before he continued. “Then why’d you go?”  Her brow furrowed. “Look I know you don’t like me doing stupid dangerous stuff… but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you guys do stupid stuff either. If you needed something from them, you could have just told me.” Her tone lightened. “Maybe I should save up for a cell phone… that way I can call them and stuff. And you guys. With work…”

                “Work?” Raph interrupted.

                Jack blinked. “Yeah, that job I had tried to get a while ago… before… you know… well, I went in today and the position was still open so, I got the job, again.” She shrugged.

                Raph glared for a moment and then sighed. “Can we talk for a minute?” He asked, motioning out of the training room.

                The other brothers paused. Mikey grinned and elbowed Ant as he looked at Raph, expecting something big and dramatic to be happening. Raph shot him a look before looking back down at Jack.

                “Sure?” She shrugged and followed him out to the living room. Stopping by the fridge in the kitchen, the woman grabbed a bottle of water before looking at him. “I know you probably disapprove of the job but…”

                “I do.” Raph cut in. “And you don’t need to waste money on a cell phone. “We have… well, when we were younger we called them shell cells. They are like cell phones, but they only call each other. The Jones’s have one. Mona has one… If you are going to take this job I want you to take one with you, and your shobo.” He ran his hand over his face. “I’m still not a fan of you being up there.”

                Jack sighed and went to the couch, falling into a seat she patted the cushion beside her and waited for him to sit beside her. “Raphael. I’ll be fine. I’ve had job’s in worse places. All I want to do is pull my weight around here. Besides, I doubt anyone is going to come hurt me while I am there, I mean in front of people?”

                He looked down at her and pushed a sweat soaked piece of hair off her face. “I just don’t want to think about you getting hurt again.”

                “I got a pretty good teacher.” She nudged him. “I think I’ll be good.” She grinned.

                “Jacquelyn, I’m serious!”  He said a bit more forcefully. “Do you know what seeing you like that did to me?”

                She paused, a bit surprised by his sudden concerned outburst. “Yeah… the holes in my bedroom walls make it pretty clear, you were pissed at Leo.”

                “No… well, yes I was. But It was more than that!” Raphael’s eyes only held her gaze for a moment before he leaned down onto his elbows, resting on his knees. “ I was so worried it was making me sick. I couldn’t sleep. I wouldn’t let anyone near you for some ridiculous fear that they might hurt you more… not even Donnie when he wanted to check on you.” He closed his eye and hung his head.

                The woman at his side shifted in her seat. “Raph…”

                “I don’t know what’s wrong with me but I just… I can’t stop thinking about _you_.”

                “Are you saying there is something wrong with _me_?”         

                His head snapped up. “What?” The question caught him completely off guard and now looking at her he knew it had been the wrong thing to say. There was a look of hurt on her face, he didn’t like it. He had caused it and a sinking weight was dropping into his stomach and he couldn’t stop it.

                “Look I know I am not the greatest at all this fighting stuff, but I’m trying. And I’m sorry I seem to create more problems for you. I don’t mean to get caught in these fights…  So I’m sorry if I’m just becoming some big burden or a giant weight on your mind or whatever. I’ll try to take better care of myself so you don’t have to worry about stupid me.” She jumped to her feet and turned to storm off.

                Raph could see the tears already rolling down her cheeks. But no words would come as she rushed out of the room and slammed the door to her bedroom. “Fuck!”  The turtle let out a rage filled snarl and punched the coffee table in front of him, breaking it in two.  Hanging his head he got to his feet and looked down the hall towards Jack’s room and then towards the training room, where all his brother’s had stopped and peeked out the room. He turned his back on them and headed to the woman’s room.

                He gently knocked on her door. “Jack? Jacquelyn… please, open the door.”

                “Go away!” She said from inside.

                “Please… don’t shut me out. That’s wasn’t what I meant… Please, let me explain.” He tried the door knob but it was locked.

                Jack didn’t say anything.

                “Jacquelyn please… open the door.”

                He stood there knocking and pleading for a good ten minutes before he finally heard the small click of the door unlocking. It didn’t open, but it was unlocked. Slowly he opened the door and stepped inside. The woman was sitting on the bed with her pillow in her lap, clinging to it like it was all she had left.

                “Jacquelyn what I said, however you took it… that’s not what I meant.”

                She sniffled a bit, still not looking up at him. “Yeah well it sounded like you said I was some big burden on you.”

                “No! Jack….” He grabbed the chair from the corner and pulled it up before her so he could sit. “That’s not what I meant at all!” He reached a hand over and put it on her knee. “I… I think about you all the time, I worry about you, yes. That’s all true. I don’t mean it in a bad way… I don’t think. I just don’t know how to handle all the things I’m feeling.” He hung his head, his hand still on her knee.

                Wiping at her face, Jack looked over at him. “What you’re feeling?”

                He nodded. “You don’t know how confused I have been ever since you have entered our lives…” He sighed. “How… much you make me feel that I didn’t think was possible.”

                “Raph what are you talking about?”

                “Jacquelyn, I think about you constantly, not in the way I think about my brothers; my family. And my thoughts… they aren’t always rated G. It’s hard to keep my mind from wondering when I sleep with you most nights.” Both of their faces turned red but he continued. “I fear you getting hurt more than anyone. I’m willing to sacrifice anything to make sure you are okay.” He closed his eye and took a deep breath. “I killed someone that was threatening you.”

                She gasped and scooted back away from him a bit. “Why… would you do that?”

                “He was in charge of sending people after you. I didn’t want you to get hurt.” He couldn’t look at her, he could already feel her trembling through the bed. She was scared… of him.

                “But why kill him?” She whispered.

                Finally Raphael looked at her. His eye found hers and held her teary gaze for a long moment. “I almost lost you once; I don’t want to chance losing you again… I love you Jack.”    


	18. Chapter 18

                Raph rolled over in his hammock when he heard someone pounding on his door. Falling back asleep didn’t work so well when the pounding continued. Groping around below him, his hand landed on his night stand and one of his sai. Without looking, he chucked it at his door, the tip stabbing into the old wooden barrier.

                The door flew open. “Good you’re awake.” Antonello stormed in and glared down at the turtle still trying to sleep. He poked him in the forehead. “We need to talk.”

                “Fuck off.”

                Ant grabbed the side of the hammock and turned it over flipping Raph to a tangled heap on the floor. Still half asleep, the groggy turtle flailed and sat up as he lashed out with his fists. “What the hell Ant?” He rubbed at his face as he looked up.

                Squatting down in front of his apathetic older brother, Antonello glared at him. “Listen up Raphael, I don’t know what the hell happened between you two but you need to fix it. And I mean today!”

                Raph shoved him away. “What are you talking about?” He got to his feet.

                “Oh don’t pull that shit with me.” Ant followed him as he staggered to his night stand. “Ever since she got her job two weeks ago, you know, the day after we killed that guy, things haven’t been the same! Instead of coming to you, Jackie comes in my room every night… she cries herself to sleep most of the time! What the fuck happened?!”

                “None of your damned business!” Raph shoved him away as he picked up his mask, searching for something. Didn’t find it. He stumbled a bit further and found the liquor bottle on the floor. Empty. “Shit.” He tossed it aside.

                Ant grabbed the bottle. “Are you fucking kidding me? She’s in my room crying over you and you are in here getting drunk?! What the hell happened to training us, and defending her?”

                Raph hung his head and couldn’t look at the younger turtle. He had dropped into a tailspin after he told Jack he loved her. She didn’t say anything back. Not a single word. She just got up and walked out. They hadn’t spoken since, hell, she walked out of the room every time he walked in.

                “What am I supposed to say to her?” He asked quietly. “She won’t even look at me.”

                Ant groaned as he ran his hand over his face. “I don’t know… but think of something. I can’t deal with her crying. The house is getting depressing again. No one is training anymore…. The look on her face all the time… I can’t stand it.” He sighed and stood. “She’ll be at work for another few hours so, you have a little bit to sober up and think of something to say.” He patted Raphs’ shoulder and then left.

                Out in the living room Michelangelo was sitting on the floor trying to figure out how to hook up the new television they had acquired. He looked up when he heard the door shut. “So… What’d Raph say?”

                Ant shook his head. “Idiot’s still half drunk, wouldn’t really tell me what happened between them.” Falling into the sofa he sighed again. “I don’t know if he’ll talk to her or not.”

                “Great.”

 

                Jacquelyn brought over a carrier with four cups of coffee sitting securely in it. Setting it on the counter she smiled at the young man waiting. “Here you go! Sorry about the wait.”

                The man smiled and took his drinks before leaving.

                Smile fading from her face, Jack leaned on the counter and stared around the empty café. There were only two customers in, but they were already served, now off at their own small tables doing whatever it was they wanted. It was a pretty boring Saturday. Just what Jack didn’t want. Her mind kept going back to the one person she didn’t want it to.

                “Hey, are you okay?”

                Looking over her shoulder Jack shrugged at her new coworker. “Eh, I guess.”

                The red head brushed a curl out of her face and came up to lean against the counter beside her. “Oh yeah? Then why have you been sighing all day?” She paused. “Make that every day for the past two weeks.” Her pale brown eyes looked intently at Jack’s. “Look I know you don’t know me very well, but I’m here to talk to if you want.”

                “Thanks Arionna.” Jack gave her a small smile. “But it’s a long story.”

                She ignored her book under the counter for once. “Well I’m done cleaning all the dishes in the back, so we have time.” She had this eager look in her eyes. “It’s a guy isn’t it?”

                “What?” Her eyes got wide, heat turning her cheeks red.

                “Well, the only reason a woman is ever so distracted this long is when it’s about a guy….or so I’ve read.” She started to twirl a curl around her finger subconsciously. “So who is the guy?”

                Jack shifted her weight to another foot. “His name is Raphael.”

                “Okay, so tell me about him.”

                “Well I live with him and his four brothers.” She said a bit quietly.

                Arionna straightened. “Wait… you live with him?... Them?”

                She nodded.

                “Oh my gawd this already sounds like something I’ve read…” Her own face turned red. “Sorry, I don’t mean that in a bad way… you just don’t hear that often.”

                Jack nodded. “I know. They took me in when I was in a bit of a rough spot. I just never left, I became part of the family.”

                The other woman nodded. “Okay, so if you are part of the family, what happened with Raphael that you are sighing so dramatically then?”

                Jack wrinkled her nose at the other girl a moment before she ran a hand through her hair. “He told me that he loved me. And not in the way that a brother would love a sister.”

                “So? How do you feel about him?”

                “I…” avoiding looking at Arionna, Jack didn’t know what to say.

                “It’s not that hard of a question.” Arionna frowned. “If you like him you do, if you don’t you don’t. He’s not here and I have no preference so… you don’t need to be scared of telling me anything.”

                “It’s complicated.”

                “So uncomplicate it for me.”

                Jack crossed her arms. “I just… I have never had luck with guys. And I mean, I have had some pretty shitty luck.” She looked at her as if telling her not to ask details on that issue. “So I’ve always had a hard time trusting those things. Raph is different, in more ways than you know, and I want to be close to him but… I’m scared.”

                “So you do love him.”

                Jacquelyn’s face turned a bright red as the Arionna stared at her.

                Arionna grinned. “So what was so wrong when he told you? Did you just get scared?”

                She shook her head. “No… well yes, but not because of that… it was because he said something else. He did something stupid, said he did it for me, but it was incredibly dumb.” Hanging her head Jack took a deep breath.

                The door chimed and both girls whirled around to face the approaching customer. Jack plastered a smile on her face as she looked up at the man. “Hi, how can I help you?”

                The man wasn’t their normal clientele. He had a tattered jacket on, and long hair tied back in a ponytail. Scars flecked his face as well as his clothing. He scratched his neck and revealed the edge of some purple tattoo. “Just a black coffee…” He peered down at her name tag. “Jacquelyn.”

                There was something eerie in his yellow toothed grin. “Y-yes sir.” She stuttered before giving him the total and taking his money while Arionna fetched his drink.

                “You haven’t worked here long, have you?” The man asked.

                Jack shook her head as his cup was set down. Handing it over to him she spoke. “No, just a few weeks.”

                “That’s what I thought.” He grinned. “Thanks for the coffee.”

                He took his cup and left.

                “That was awkward.” Arionna frowned.

                “Tell me about it.”

 

                “Hey Arionna! I’m taking the trash out while you lock up!” Jack called up to the front of the café while she tied the big black bag shut. The rest of the day hadn’t been all that exciting; her coworker was still asking for more details on her situation with Raph, but besides that nothing interesting had happened.

                Jack dragged the bag out the back door of the café and towards the dumpster on the other side of the ally. It was late, dark, the only light was a dim street light a few yards away.  “Perfect.” Opening the putrid smelling dumpster she hefted the bag into it and let the lid slam shut.

                Something scurried behind her.

                “Arionna?” She turned around, her back against the cold greasy metal. “Arionna was that you?” Her hands went to her pockets. In them she felt the small cell phone Donatello had given her and the tiny weapons she had learned to use, but hadn’t practiced with in weeks. Her fingers closed around the small rods as she started to walk back toward the café.

                Something clanged against the dumpster.

                She spun around, this time her weapon in hand and her body already in a defensive posture. Jack said nothing as she tried to spy who was hiding in the dark. Her fingers flexed around her weapons as she tried to listen for movement.

                Something whirred through the air but Jack hit the pavement. The kunai thunked into the bricks behind her. She jumped to her feet and looked in the direction it had come from. Whoever it was, wasn’t trying to hide anymore. Jack was glaring as she looked at the tall figure moving in the shadows. It wasn’t until she saw a large bushy tail flick out from behind the figure that her heart rate really picked up.

                “W-who are you?” She couldn’t keep herself from stuttering as she squinted to try and see.

                Another sound behind her.

                Jack’s hands lashed out, her shobo jabbing at the man’s arm, aiming for the pressure points she had memorized. It was some gang member, she had no idea why this man was attacking her. He screamed when one of her hits sent his arm limp.  Another came out, it was the man from earlier. While the first one grabbed her neck, the other tried to grab her legs. Jack lashed out. Kicking and still trying to attack with her hands. But the second man tackled both of them and knocked them to the ground. Jack tried to scramble away after kicking one in the gut.

                She didn’t get far.

                The one in the shadows jumped out and landed on her chest, sword at her throat. A white fox face stared down at her, a purple splash across her eyes. A clawed hand reached down and grabbed Jack’s face. “Who we are is none of your concern.” The fox mutant hissed. Then her elbow connected with Jack’s temple and the woman went limp. “Pick her up. Quickly.”

                The two men picked up the unconscious woman and followed the fox as she slinked back into the shadows.

 

                “Hey Jack are you done?” Arionna poked her head out the back door. “Jack?” She blinked a few times before stepping out back. “That’s odd I could have sworn…”Her eyes fell to the odd little trinket sitting on the pavement. Walking over to it she picked it up and looked it over. It was a small metal and plastic thing about the size of a cell phone. Flipping it open it had a few buttons on the inside, none were numbers, but rather, colors. Blue, red, purple, orange, pink, yellow, and three grey buttons. She looked around the alley some more. “Jack! Hey are you out here?” She frowned, something didn’t feel right. Jack never left without saying good bye and making sure everything was locked up.

                Heading back inside Arionna shut the back door after she entered and locked it, but stood there in case she heard Jack come back. She stared down at the odd phone in her hand and decided to press a button.

                It had an odd buzz for a few moments until someone finally answered.

                “Jack? Jack what is it?”

                “Um no… This isn’t Jack.” Arionna said a bit concerned.

                There was silence for a moment. “Why do you have her cell? Where is she?”

                “That’s just it, I don’t know. She was taking out the trash and then she was gone. I found this phone thing in the alley behind the café.”

                A sigh. “Hang on. Do not hang up the phone, do you hear me?”

                “Mhmm.”

                There was shuffling as the male on the other end moved around. “Mikey, go wake Raph up… We have a problem. Get Ant and Leo too, it’s not good.” Another sigh. “You um, you work with Jack?”

                “Y-yeah, my name is Arionna. We were closing up just getting ready to leave… is Jack in some kind of trouble?”

                There was hesitation. “No. Don’t worry about her.”

                “Well should I wait for you guys? Maybe I can help look for her?”

                “No.” He said it faster than he should have. “I mean, there is no need. I’m sure she is fine. Thank you for the call but we have got it from here.”

                “Donnie hurry up!” A voice shouted in the back ground.

                “That’s my cue. Bye Arionna.”

                Arionna stared down at the phone for a long moment before looking out the back door. She closed her hands around the phone and went through the café turning off all the lights except one. She hated the dark, but she didn’t want anyone to know she was still there. Vowing to see who it was that would come to Jack’s rescue, Arionna hunkered down near the back door and waited. Maybe seeing who she lived with would tell her more about the girl that kept her life so private.

 

                “What do you mean Jack is missing?” Raph demanded. His head was pounding and he still had this nagging urge to puke but he could ignore it.

                “That’s what the girl said. Jack wasn’t there, her phone was just lying in the alley. It makes me think something bad happened to her.” Donnie explained as he rewrapped the center of his staff.

                He glared and shoved his sai into his belt. “We need to go find her.”

                “That is what we are going to do Raphael.” Leo snapped. “Now let’s move.”

                The brother’s picked up their gear and headed out. Slinking up from the sewers, they kept to the shadows as they made their way to the café Jack worked at. Raphael was the first one there. He dropped down from a fire escape to the alley floor. He picked up a shobo and clenched it in his fist before he turned around and looked at the other turtles that were dropping down around him.

                “What’d you find?” Ant asked.

                “Her weapons.” He held his hand out and showed the others.

                Mikey whistled and called them over to the wall. “Guys… look at this.” He yanked the kunai out of the wall. “Something went down here. Something not good.”

                Donnie was poking around the dumpster, looking for some kind of clue, Leo was at the other end of the alley, Mikey and Ant were looking at the throwing knife. Raph punched the wall in frustration.

                There was a small gasp from the building. The turtles all froze, then vanished into the dark. But only for a second. The back door to the Café was wrenched open by the turtles, weapons drawn, to reveal the red headed woman sitting there clutching her book and Jack’s phone tight.

                “Oh shit.” Raph mumbled as he relaxed and walked away. It was not his turn to deal with some new onlooker.

                Mikey and Ant backed away leaving Leo and Donnie there before the awestruck girl. Donatello hunched down before her as he set his staff down. “Hey.” He said softly. “You must be Arionna.”

                Slowly, very slowly, the woman nodded, her dark curls bouncing slightly.

                “Listen, you don’t have to be afraid of us, we aren’t going to hurt you.” He smiled softly. “My name is Donnie. We talked on the phone.”

                “Y-yeah, I know your voice.” She said in a whisper.

                “Donnie we don’t have time for this!” Raph growled from a few feet away. “I need to go find her!”

                “Shut up Raph!” Donnie hissed through gritted teeth. “I have a different issue at the moment.” But before he could say something else, the woman did.

                “Jack… she lives with you guys?” Her eyes flicked from Donnie to Leo and then to Raph. “Giant turtles?”

                Donnie nodded. “Yes, but it’s a secret okay? You can’t tell anyone about us…”

                She nodded mechanically.

                Reaching over Donnie carefully wrapped his hand around hers and took the phone from her. “I need this back however.”

                “Come on Don, we have wasted enough time.” Leo said. “I found something.”

                Getting to his feet Donatello paused and looked back down at Arionna. “That’s a good book. Chapter 27 was my favorite.” Then he turned and went to his brothers. “What did you find Leo?” He asked.

                Leo opened his hand. In his palm sat a small tuft of white fur.

                “Alopex.” Raph growled. “That bitch.” He took off running, jumping back up onto the fire escapes to launch himself into the darkness. His brother’s started to follow.

                “D-Donnie?”

                The one wearing purple hesitated before he turned around. Jack’s coworker was tentatively stepping out into the ally. He looked at her for a moment before turning back around, hoping he was right and that she wouldn’t say anything.

                “A man came here earlier.” She spoke.

                Now Donatello really stopped. He walked over to her, but kept a comfortable distance when he saw her still holding the novel uncomfortably tight. “Yes? What kind of man?”

                “He uh… he didn’t really look like out normal customers. Kind of grungy and maybe like a gang member?” She was fidgeting. “He had long hair and a tattoo on his neck, it was purple. I only saw it for a second though, so I don’t know what it was… He just paid a little too much attention to Jack.”

                Donnie nodded. “Thank you, that is helpful.” Then he turned and ran to catch up with his brothers. He had to sprint to catch up, but he caught them in short time. “Leo,” he said in a hushed voice. “I think Alopex is working with the purple dragons. Arionna said a man came in earlier with a purple tattoo.”

                “Shit.”  Leo stopped and peered over the edge of the building top they were on.

                Raph glared at them. “Why are we stopping?” He demanded.

                Leonardo turned to face his bulky brother. “Because we need to come up with a plan. Not charge in there halfcocked to get our asses handed to us.”

                “Every moment we waste out here is another moment that she is with them. God knows what they are doing to her!” Images flashed in his head of a time many months ago when the woman had confided in him. Dark secrets. He didn’t want her to face that again. “I promised her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”

                “Good luck keeping that.” Leo mumbled.

                Raph punched the nearest thing which happened to be an air conditioning unit. The metal crunched under the pressure and the machine started to whine.

                “Nice.” Mikey said sarcastically.

                “So, what’s the plan?” Ant asked, spinning his axe in his hand.


	19. Chapter 19

                “So do you really think this place has her?” Ant whispered as they hunched down on top of the building.

                They had been scouring the city, finding bands of Purple Dragons all day and gathering as much information as they could about where their headquarters might have been. It took hours, all night, but their work led them to the river side and this dilapidated looking warehouse.

                “Everything led here. It’s the only logical conclusion.”  Donatello answered the younger turtle.

                “Then what are we waiting for?” Raph grunted. He swung over the ledge of the building and grabbed the sides of the fire escape and slide down towards the ground.

                Leo rolled his eyes and slid down after his brother. The others followed suit and they made their way towards the building. There were purple dragon members hanging around the entrance so the turtles had to sneak between the abandoned machinery that littered the lot around the building. Leo motioned to Mikey and Ant. The pair dove in succession and took out the foursome that was guarding the door. Unconscious and soon bound around the corner, they were no longer a threat.

                Now they just had to hope that the inside was clear, by the door anyway. Cracking the door open, Donatello was the first to peer inside.

 

                Hands bound above her head, Jacquelyn was hanging by her restraints from what could only be assumed to be an old meat hook. The room was full of them. Old reddish brown stains splattered the walls and floor. Her feet barely scraped the floor as she hung there. Blood dripped from her nose and a gash above her eyebrow. She was wheezing again.

                Alopex was hunched down on a broken cooler, glaring at the girl as two men stood next to her taking turns hitting her. “Tell us the codes!”

                “Screw you!” Jack spat at them.

                A fist connected with her gut. She stifled a scream as her shoulder was jerked from its socket and her body hung on her arms ligaments.

                The fox snarled. “Stop playing games girl and tell us the damn codes!” She beat her fist on the cooler.

                “What codes are you talking about?!” Jack screamed at her. “I don’t know what you are talking about!”

                Another fist hit her ribs, then her kidney. “We don’t have time for this.”

                The fox launched herself off her perch and got right in Jack’s face. “One last chance. Tell me the codes or you will die.”

                Jack spit on her. “Fuck. You.”

                The lights went out. Jack screamed as something collided with her. She was wrenched off her hook and thrown to the cold ground. Rough hands grabbed her by the neck and pinned her to the floor there, some grimy cloth was shoved in her mouth so far she gagged. There was clattering, the sound of weapons hitting weapons, fists on skin, shouts and angry snarls.

                Someone wrapped an arm around Jack’s neck and dragged her somewhere, the being arm was hairy, Alopex. There was a smack behind her and the lights flicked on. The fox mutant had an arm around her throat and a dagger against her ribs. Tears blurred her vision but Jack could make out the five green figures standing in the room before them.

                “Back off or the girl dies.” Alopex snarled.

                Raph’s hands flexed around his weapons, already his hands covered in blood.

                “You won’t kill her, you need her.” Donatello glared at her.

                “Doesn’t mean she has to come in one piece.” Alopex slid the knife down Jack’s side slicing into her bruised skin. The woman screamed, as best she could with her mouth gagged.

                Raph screamed but before his feet could even move, Ant was half way across the room. His axe crashed down beside the pair of females causing Alopex to roll away with Jack. It gave him a chance to grab his friend. His hand was too weak and Alopex snatched Jack back. The youngest turtle swore.

                “Put her down you piece of shit!” Raph pointed his sai at the fox but Leo put an arm in front of him to stop him.

                “Why do you want her?” Leo asked, stone faced as always. He had already heard part of the interrogation, he just needed to buy time until someone thought of a way to get Jack out of danger.

                The yellow eyed fox glared. “None of your business turtles. Now back off!” She was so busy looking at the four turtles, so used to seeing only four, she didn’t realize that there was one sneaking up behind her.

                In an instant there was an axe blade under her chin. “Let her go. She is the only thing stopping me from ending you right now.” Antonello whispered in her pointed ears.

                She hissed, her ears lying flat against her head. “If you end me, more will come. It’s what happened when you killed Bruno. Kill me and worse things will happen.”

                His blade pulled tighter against her neck and caused her to release the battered woman in her grasp. Jack crawled away, still bound and bloodied.

                Raph snatched her up into his muscled arms and held her tight against his chest as he pulled the rag from her mouth and then used a sai to cut the ropes from her wrists.  His gaze met Antonello’s for a moment before he turned and walked towards the exit with Mikey behind him.

                “You’re lucky.” Antonello snapped before his elbow snapped forward and connected with the Alopex’s temple, knocking the fox out. Joining the others, Ant looked over his shoulder and sighed. “Are you sure it is okay to leave her there? With all these people after Jack… shouldn’t we try to _stop_ them?” He hoped they understood his implications.

                Leo frowned. “We don’t kill defenseless people. In fact we avoid it. We are not barbarians. We were trained with honor by Master Splinter.”  He turned and started to walk away.

                Antonello didn’t follow. “Well I wasn’t!” That stopped Leo. He and Donatello both turned around and stared at him. “I was trained by you and your brothers. Not Splinter. He isn’t here anymore and I’m sorry I never met him, I truly am, but it’s time you stop living in the past. All of you.” He marched up to Leo and looked down at him, his four inches in height over him made the younger turtle seem almost more menacing. “It is time you start making decisions for yourselves. Make decisions based on what is going on here and now.” He gestured to the unconscious people behind him. “You are the oldest Leo, you are the head of this family… it is a growing family, in the past year you have had two new people move into your house and join your family. You have to start considering what is best for them too. They didn’t grow up like you did, they didn’t have the same things you did. But now they are family, _we_ are family. I’m not saying you have to kill for us, but we aren’t just random strangers in your life… Jack isn’t some meaningless person.” He sighed. “Her life is in danger. I’m willing to do anything to protect it because she ismy sister, that’s how I feel about her. I think you should be willing to do the same, even if it means breaking some of those old rules.”

                Without another word, Ant walked by him and rushed after Raphael and Mikey to check on Jack leaving Donnie and Leo standing there dumbfounded.

 

                “Jack, Jack open your eyes.”

                Her body was trembling, writing with pain that was emanating from the gash on her side and a dislocated shoulder. Her bright eyes were squeezed closed as she tried to fight through the pain. Raph ran a large finger down the side of her face as he hunched down in the alley, cradling her against him.

                “She doesn’t look good.”

                “This isn’t as bad as when Leo attacked her.” Mikey looked up at Ant.

                “Yeah but this could have aggravated those old injuries. She could be bleeding internally or something.” He ran a hand over his face. “Raph, she should see a real doctor.”

                “Fuck! I know…” He grunted. “Mikey, go get Casey, tell him to bring the car. He can take her to the hospital.”

                So Mikey hopped off and disappeared up a fire escape as Ant hunched down beside his brother. “Leo isn’t going to be happy with me.”

                “Fuck him…” Raph snorted. But then he looked up. “Why?”

                “I kind of told him off… on why he didn’t jump to helping Jack faster, why he wasn’t willing to do more…”

                “Good.” The scarred turtle looked down at the squirming woman in his arms and tried to hush her. “Don’t move, Casey will be here soon.” He whispered, brushing hair out of her face.

                Her eyes fluttered and she tried to move her arm, but winced. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled.

                “Don’t apologize…”

                “What’s she saying?”

                The two turtles looked up to see Leo and Donnie approaching from the shadows. Raph didn’t answer his elder brother. Leonardo would have thrown his brother against the wall had he not been holding the half conscious human.

                Gritting his teeth he spoke again. “What is she saying? Is it about the codes?”

                “She isn’t saying anything.”

                Leo whipped around any looked up at Ant. “I wasn’t asking you.”

                “Yeah well I answered.” He glared down at the eldest. She isn’t in any condition to be interrogated Leo. Back off.”

                “She obviously knows something!” Leo pushed the taller turtle out of his face. “The woman is hiding something-”

                “The woman?!” Ant nearly screamed. “You mean Jacquelyn? Our sister, the girl that has been staying with us for a year! She isn’t some stranger Leo! You can’t treat her like a criminal!”

                “Will you two shut the hell up!” Donatello forced his way between them and shoved them apart. “What is wrong with you? We have an injured friend and a serious problem flooding our city. This is no time to get at each other’s throats! So shut it! Do you want to be seen?”

                Headlights turned down the alley way and the turtles all shrank back into the shadows, Raphael, hiding in the corner, still holding on to Jack. The car stopped and shut off just before Michelangelo and Casey climbed out.

                “It’s okay guys, come on out.” Mikey called.

                Silently they all emerged, Raph carrying the unconscious woman in his arms.

                “Damn…” Casey mumbled. “Mike filled me in but…”

                “Just open the door and take her to the hospital.” Raph hung his head.

                The human obeyed and opened the door to the back seat  letting the turtle lay the battered woman down on the back seat.

                “Don’t leave her side. You hear me? Don’t leave her side for one second.”Raph grabbed the front of Casey’s shirt until he was sure the man under stood him.

                Casey nodded. “You got it bro. I won’t leave her alone.”

                The turtles watched Casey climb back into the car and then drive away, the red tail lights vanishing around the corner. As soon as he was gone Raphael turned around and let his fist connect with Leo’s face.

                “If ya even think of treatin’ her like some criminal I’ll beat yer ass.” And with that he turned and walked away, slipping into the shadows to head home.

 

                Raph spent hours in the training room. Lifting until his muscles screamed, beating the heavy bag until his knuckles were bleeding, and forcing his body to the point of exhaustion. Finally dropping to his knees and panting for breath Raphael listened to the stillness that had settled on the house. He was the last one awake on this miserable night. Or so he thought. Sound from across the house echoed to his ears.

                Forcing himself to his feet the weary turtle grabbed his weapons and followed the sound all the way to Jack’s room. What he found wasn’t what he had been expecting. Leo was on his knees amidst a pile of jacks clothing, strewn about the once neat and orderly room. The drawers to her dresser were yanked out of their wooden home and left hanging recklessly, bras and tee shirts hanging from the edges. Her mattress had been flipped over, the sheets yanked off of it and thrown aside. The blue branded turtle was kneeling before the last thing he had yet to destroy, Jack’s old suitcase. Neatly closed and latched on the ground before him.

                “What the fuck do you think you are doing?”

                “I’m finding out who she really is.” Leo said as his large fingers pressed the buttons on the edge of the beaten green case.

                Raphael’s hand pressed it close again. “Look at yourself. This is pathetic. You have torn apart her room, destroyed everything, for what?”

                “For answers Raph!” Leo all but screamed. “I need to know who did this to me! Who got so close to me they could have killed me and made me almost…”

                “Almost kill Jack? Jack, you know, your friend?” Raph scoffed. “Some friend you are… you are so desperate for answers, so desperate for some kind of control you are willing to sacrifice someone else. What happened to our great and mighty leader?”

                Leo hung his head. He didn’t know what to say.

                “You know what, go ahead… you have destroyed everything else. Look in her suit case. Just prove that she isn’t hiding anything from us.” Raph pulled his hand away and crossed his arms over his chest as he glared down at his brother.

                So Leo opened the case. Inside was a collection of old picture frames. His big green hands picked up the first, a picture of her in her teens with a man a few years older, her brother he assumed. There were a few more pictures of the two. Her brother in a suit, Jack in varying uniforms from diners and dives. She looked happy.

                Setting aside all the pictures Leo found a worn out note book underneath them all. Lifting it up he flipped through the pages. Jacquelyn’s handwriting was scrawled across all the pages, a journal detailing her daily life.  Leo hung his head, there was nothing there. No secrets, well, nothing he was interested in. He had been a complete ass to someone who had done nothing but try to help them.

                He was just about to close the journal when a page caught his eye. Numbers. It was page after page of numbers and numbers in varying sequences and patterns. It filled up the last four pages of the journal before there was nothing but blank pages left.

                “What the hell…” Leo looked up at Raphael.

                Raph slowly let his arms drop to his sides as his eye drifted from the pages up to his brother’s face. He swallowed hard. _Was_ she hiding something?

 

                “Mr. Jones?”

                Casey jumped to his feet and smoothed his long hair back out of his face. He had been waiting in that stupid room for hours. No news, no word. Nothing. Just the sound of beeps and alarms from the distant rooms, nurses on phones and new patients coming into the ER screaming and wailing. It was a nightmare, enough to fry every one of his nerves.

                “Yeah, that’s me.”

                “This way please.” A petite woman with a clip board led him down a cluttered and active hallway to a closed door with a curtain drawn on it. “You brought in Miss Garver?”

                “Yeah I did. Why? Is she alright?”

                “Her condition is stable. Her injuries were treatable and non-life threatening, but our examination revealed older injuries that were partially healed. We have to ask if she is in a suitable living situation.” She cocked an eyebrow and glanced over her shoulder at the police officers that were just a shout away.

                Casey nodded. “I uh, I understand completely ma’am. Her home situation is completely safe. She is new to the city, moved here from Georgia so the hustle and bustle kind of scare her. She was in a car accident a few weeks ago and it kind of freaked her out. She didn’t want to go to the hospital so she just stayed at home.”

                The woman nodded cautiously and jotted a few things down on her clip board. “Very well.” Stepping aside she gestured to the door and let Casey pass.

                On the gurney inside Jack was asleep, a few tubes were hooked up to her arms pumping her full of fluids and antibiotics. Her shoulder was wrapped and held against her side to stabilize it. Her wrists were wrapped in bandages as was her side where some sort of blade had carved into her skin. For now she seemed to be sleeping peacefully.

                Breathing a sigh of relief Casey reached into his pocket and pulled out his shell cell to call Raph with the new that Jack was safe and well.


	20. Chapter 20

                Everything was bright white. It was so bright Jack couldn’t see anything and her head started to pound. She blinked a few times, squinting as she turned her head. “Raph?” She tried to say but it was more of a choked whisper.

                Something scraped across the floor and a something moved on the other side of the room. Too blurry to tell who, but it wasn’t green. So not Raph.

                “Jack! You are awake!” The voice was familiar.

                “April?” She tried to move but the pain in her shoulder rippled across her body and she gasped.

                “Jack lay still. You were pretty banged up.” April sighed.

                The younger woman tried to relax. “Where am I? Why is it so bright?”

                April left her bedside and went to the wall clicking off the light. With the room dim, Jacquelyn was able to blink her eyes open. She looked up at the plane white ceiling then over at the tubes coming out of her arm and going up to the bags hanging from the hook on the wall. She was in a hospital. Monitors displayed her vitals and any little hiccup that might occur was recorded down for the doctors.

                “You are in the hospital. You dislocated your shoulder and had to get some stitches.” April pulled a chair over to the bed side and sat down. “You took quite a beating.”

                “Where’s Raph?” Jack asked, her eyes settling on the woman who looked like she hadn’t slept at all.

                “Raphael is back home. He can’t be in a hospital.” April looked at the girl in the bed like she was crazy.

                But Jack moved. She reached over and ripped the IVs out of her arm. Wincing as she tore her skin. “No, I have to get home.” She mumbled. “I need to talk to him.”

                April stood and pushed the younger woman back down. “No, what you need to do is lay back down and rest!”

                “You don’t understand April!” Jack shoved her away. “I know what they are trying to do! I know what they want!”

                The other woman hesitated for a split second before forcing the other to lay down. “I don’t care! You are in no shape to leave this place.” She smacked the call button on the wall beside the bed. “The guys are great but they are not medical professionals.”

                A swarm of nurses flooded the room. A few of the men held Jack down carefully as a woman stabbed her IVs back into her arms. Another woman was quick to inject something straight into the line going into her arm. Instantly, Jack’s head started to get fuzzy. Everything felt warm and it was hard to hold her head up or move anything really. “But… Raph…”

                She was out cold. April sighed and ran her hands over her face. She pulled her cell phone out and went back to her chair. “Casey? Can you come to the hospital and watch Jack? I have work in the morning and… I’m not sure she is entirely safe here alone.” The red head rubbed her neck and hung up the phone to wait.

 

                Once her husband came to trade places with her, she drove the car, and the kids back to their apartment. After tucking Shadow and C.J. into bed she sat down at the dining room table with a glass of wine. It took her a long while before she finally picked up the shell cell off the table. She pressed a button and let it buzz in her ear.

                “Casey?”

                “No It’s me Don.”

                “April? What’s going on?”

                She hesitated. “Jack woke up a few hours ago.”

                Silence filled the other end of the phone. “Okay. Why is this a reason to call?”

                “Because Donnie, she was panicking. Ripped her IVs out of her own arms in an attempt to leave when she can barely see. She’s been unconscious for almost a week. That poor girl has been through hell!”

                This time the turtle sighed. “Yeah I know.”

                “I made the doctors knock her out again. She needs time to rest and heal.”

                “Agreed. However she might be able to answer some important questions and I can’t ask them while she is in the hospital.”

                April stared at the dark liquid sitting on the bottom of her glass. “I know. But she needs a little more time. Do you think you guys can hold off until then?”

                “Well, there haven’t been any more big incidents so… It should be alright. As long as Raph doesn’t know it is _us_ keeping here there.”

                “Did Raph… Did Raph and Jack ever make up? Sort out whatever issue it was they had?”

                Again the turtle paused. “I don’t know. Raphael obviously still cares for her. He’s even more bull headed when anything comes to her. He can only think about keeping her safe and getting her home.”

                “His name was the first thing she said when she woke up… and the last word before she passed back out.”

                “They need to sort out their issue before it kills them both and all of us with it.” Donnie half joked. “Well thanks for the update April. I’ll tell the guys what they need to know.” With that he hung up the cell.

                “So,” The voice behind him caused him to jump. “You planning on hiding stuff from us?”

                Donatello spun around in his computer chair and looked up at Ant as he slouched against a counter. “No, just hiding a few details from Raph so he doesn’t kill himself.”

                The youngest turtle nodded. His eyes drifted down to the journal that was sitting on the counter beside him.

                Getting to his feet, the one wearing purple crossed the room and grabbed the journal. He stared down at the worn leather cover before poking his head out into the living room. “Mike, Leo.” He motioned with his head to come in his room. The sound of weights down the hall told him that Raph would be distracted for the time being.

                “What’s shakin?” Mikey asked as he grabbed one of the computer chairs and spun himself around. Leo lashed out and stopped the chair, knocking his little brother out of it.

                “I figured it was time to tell you guys what I found in here since Jack is waking up intermittently… she might come back home soon.”

                Mikey’s face lit up, but Leo’s… Donnie saw a grim look pass across his features before the normal stony glare returned.

                “So what does her journal tell you?” Ant asked what the others were thinking.

                Donnie looked at Leo and then Ant. “I think Jack knows something, she just might not know she knows it.”

                “What does that mean?” Ant asked.

                Donnie sighed and flipped through a few pages. “I read through here.” He looked up sadly. “I didn’t really want to but it gave me a few insights.” He wasn’t going to tell them the secrets of her past, they didn’t need to know, honestly he wished he didn’t know most of it. “But there were things wrong with the way she wrote sentences. Backwards and flipping words around. I’m not an expert but I think she has a learning disability.”

                “What? But she seems fine to me.” Ant’s brow creased.

                “How can that be? She doesn’t seem retarded.” Leo mused

                Donnie glared at him. “A learning disability doesn’t mean she is retarded, or slow, or anything like that. It just means a few wires are crossed and she doesn’t learn the same way we do.” He set the book down. “Do you remember when we were teaching her to fight? She picked up everything we demonstrated and helped her physically learn no problem. But when it came to reading and studying diagrams she struggled, those things didn’t sink in until she was on her feet and _doing_ them.”

                It was suddenly becoming apparent to their leader. “I never realized.”

                “I think that maybe her brother had something to do with these numbers… he gave them to her. But her brain didn’t know how to process them. The journal stopped a few weeks before Anthony died so he might have figured something out to get her to remember them… we have to ask her what they mean.”

                “On the other hand, she might not have any clue.” Ant piped in. “They still might be a jumbled mess.”

                “Very true.” Donatello nodded. “We wont know until she gets here.”

                “Does Raph know?” Leo asked.

                His brothers shook their heads.

                Running a hand over his face he nodded. “Keep it that way. I… He’s still pissed at me for finding the journal and I don’t want him to worry about Jack further. At least, not until she is here.” With that, Leo walked out and headed to Jack’s room. Normally that would have been considered odd, but ever since Jack was put in the hospital, Leo spent most of his free time in her room, cleaning up the disaster he had made. He put clothes and mattress back into their proper places before he started to patch the holes in her walls.

                Another week and a half passed with no word from Jacquelyn. Raph would spend every waking moment training, anything to distract himself. The others did their best to keep him occupied but stay out of his way, as well as keeping tabs on Jack’s health through frequent calls to April or Casey.

 

                “Jack? Oh thank god!” A soft voice sighed. “You had me really scared there for a while.”

                Slowly the woman on the hospital bed opened her eyes and looked over at the other person occupying her room. The dark curly hair and pale features weren’t what she had been expecting. “Arionna?”

                Tucking a curl behind her ear, the other barista walked in and took a seat beside the bed. “I have been so worried about you! Our boss is freaking out. And I have no idea what to tell him… I mean I can’t just say that you vanished and a few hours later four giant turtles came out of the shadows. I mean who would believe that I sure as hell wouldn’t I-”

                “Arionna!” Jack said forcefully. “Stop rambling, I’m fine.”

                “You don’t look fine.” Arionna crossed her arms.

                Jack shook her head. “Whatever… Did you just say something about turtles?” There was clearly fear in her eyes as she asked the question.

                “Yeah. You know, Donnie and Raph…and three other ones. Leo? I think one was called Leo.”

                “You- you saw them?” Her voice was getting more and more strained, despite the other girls obliviousness.

                Arionna nodded. “I called the one a cell phone looking thing I found in the ally. I didn’t know they’d be turtles when they showed up but… I waited around. You told me a lot about Raph and the guys you lived with so I was eager to see what kind of people they might be.”

                Jack squeezed her eyes shut and fell back into the bed. “Shit.”

                The girl with auburn hair straightened. “What’s wrong?”

                “You don’t understand how vital it is for them to remain a secret. If people found out…”

                Arionna reached over and grabbed her hand. “Jack, I know.” She smiled softly. “I was really freaked out at first, but Donnie was nice and kind of talked me through my panic.” Her smile started to grow. “He seemed really interesting, he’s even read the book I was working on.”

                “Really? I didn’t think anyone read as much as you… but then again its Donatello. He reads everything he can get his hands on.”

                “Think he might have anything I could borrow?” She perked up, scooting to the edge of her seat.

                “Maybe? Probably… but Leo isn’t a fan of outsiders. It’d be hard to convince him to let you come home.”

                She frowned.

                “I’ll tell Donnie you want to see him though.”

                That made the other smile.

                Jack scooted around and got into a better seated position. “So who was here when you came to visit?”

                Arionna shrugged. “ Um, some guy? He had long black hair and was wearing one of those ugly muscle shirts.”

                “Casey…” She sighed with relief. “Where is he now?”

                “He’s at the nurses station trying to figure out when you can go home.”

                “Good. I need to get out of here.” Jack tested her shoulder. It hurt, but at least it was mobile. She had been doing stretches and small strength training things with the nurses every day. More of those and she should be better, she could do them at home, with the boys. “Can you hand me my clothes.”

                Arionna nodded and grabbed a bag that was set beside her chair. When she handed it over, Jack pulled out a pair of jeans and a loose tee shirt, as well as a pair of clean underwear and a bra.

                “Mind stepping out for a bit?” Jack asked.

                “Oh, sure thing.” Arionna got to her feet and left the room, leaning against the wall beside the door. A few moments later, Jack called from inside and the other woman opened the door.

                Jack was on her feet, jeans hanging low on her hips to avoid the stitches down her side and the baggy shirt did well to hide her form and avoid her injuries as well. She was looping a sling around her neck and carefully placing her arm into it when she realized that the other woman had come in. “I _have_ to get home.”

                “Well the guy out there disappeared. I can run you home if you want… But do you really think you should be leaving now? Is your shoulder okay enough?”

                “I’ll be fine.” Jack ran a hand through her greasy hair and shoved it out of her face. “I really need a shower… this is going to suck.” She walked past Arionna and headed out to the nurses station. Arionna followed. At the counter, Jack waited for a nurse to look at her. “Look I need to leave. How do I sign out of here?”

                The nurse cocked an eyebrow. “You aren’t supposed to leave until the end of the week.”

                “Look lady, I need to get home. I have stuff I need to get done. I know all the exercises, I’ll do that on my own. Just let me sign out.”

                The nurse tried to convince Jack to stay, but eventually handed over a form for her to sign.

                “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her.” Arionna smiled nervously at the nurse and then ushered Jack towards the elevator.  She let out a breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so… intense.”

                Jack’s features flushed. “Yeah I know... I just, I need to see Raph. I have to talk to him.”

                Arionna helped Jack into her car once they had reached the parking lot. A few simple directions later, Jack had them stop at a small alley. “Are you sure this is where you want dropped off?”

                She nodded as she scooted out of the seat. “Thanks Arionna. Hopefully I’ll be back to work soon. Try to _not_ let them fire me.”

                “I won’t.” She smiled and watched Jack walk away.  Her car stayed still until Jack disappeared around the corner, then she drove away. “I hope she’ll be okay.” She mumbled to herself.

 

                Raphael’s eye snapped open when he heard the door open. In seconds he was on his feet and out of his room. He looked towards the kitchen where he saw Jack slowly walking towards the kitchen table. He didn’t know he was holding his breath until he saw her and was able to inhale once more. Crossing the room he wrapped his arms around the small woman and buried his face in her hair. “Thank god you are okay.”

                “Raph I’m fine.” She was smiling slightly. “But you are going to crush my arm.”

                He let her go and looked down at the arm hanging in the sling. “I’m sorry… I…”

                “It’s okay. Just… Easy on the hugs…” She smiled up at him. But her smile faded. “Where is Donnie? I need to talk to him.”

                The turtle frowned, unsure why she was asking for his brother but he pointed to the bedroom. “Where he always is.”

                “Good. Don’t let him go anywhere… I need to talk to him but… A shower would be nice.”

                “Then clean up, we can talk later.” His big hand reached up and cupped her cheek. His thumb gently ran over her reddening skin. “I’m glad you are okay. I was… I was scared shitless honestly.”

                Jack put her hand on top of his for a moment before she pulled his hand away. “It’s okay. You guys aren’t going to get rid of me that easily.” Turning from him she headed down the hall and went into the bathroom.

                “Did I hear Jack?”

                Raph turned around and saw Antonello . “Yeah, how she got here I don’t know.” Then he stiffened, remembering that he asked Casey to watch her. Fists clenching he was about to turn and leave but his littlest brother stopped him.

                “Raphael. Don’t. Jack is home, she is getting better. Just be grateful for that, okay?” Ant smiled a bit as he pulled his hand off Raph’s shoulder.

                He grunted and headed to his room. Ant had a point, but it didn’t make him any less pissed for his friend’s broken promise.  While Raph worked his frustration out, Leo emerged from the training room with Mikey in tow.

                “Glad that’s over!” Mikey plopped down in a chair and grabbed a slice of pizza out of the day old box that was sitting on their table.

                Leo frowned as he looked from one to another. “What’s going on Ant?”

                “Jack is back.”

                Mikey nearly fell off his chair. “Is she really?!”

                A nod. “She’s in the shower now.”

                “Good. When she is done, we need to talk.” Leo pulled a katana from his back and grabbed a sharpening stone from the table. He walked over to the couch and proceeded to modify his weapons blade.

                “Hey Leo?” Mikey walked over and leaned on the back of the couch. “Don’t you think Jack should rest?”

                “Rest is important but we do need to talk about a few things.” Donnie said as he came out of his room and joined his brothers.

                “She should have stayed at the hospital.” Everyone turned to see Raph standing in the hallway. “She checked herself out.”

                “You know she’ll be safer with us.” Leo interjected, walking up behind Donatello.

                “Will she really Leo? Will she?” Raph pushed Donnie aside and got in his older brother’s face. “How good of a job did we do last time huh?”

                “It’s not my fault you two love birds had a spat and you didn’t watch her.”

                Raph couldn’t stop his fist from connecting with Leo’s face. “Don’t blame me!” He snarled, fists flexing at his sides.

                Donnie got between them. “That is enough you two!” He shoved them apart. “I don’t care what the hell happened last month, last week, hell, I don’t care what the hell happened yesterday. We need to focus on the here and now. Jack is home. She is still hurt, the Dragons are still after her… and she might know why. We do _not_ need fighting right now. Got it?” He looked between the two of them.

                Raph snorted and stormed back out without a word. Leo looked over at Donnie and crossed his arms. “You think it was smart getting in front of him and his fists?”

                A shrug. “Not really but if I didn’t stop you two, we would have had another fight on our hands and Jack would have been pissed when she walked in.”

 


	21. Chapter 21

                Jack finished her shower and made the short distance to Raph’s room. The turtle didn’t hear her enter, he was rather preoccupied with punching the crap out of a heavy bag. The worn material split.

                “Shit.” Raphael mumbled as he clamped a hand over the split and tried to stop the falling sand. He struggled to reach over to a nearby shelf and grabbed a roll of duct tape. Quickly wrapping the bag in a few rows of the tape, he swore again and tossed the tape aside before turning around and freezing. His eye went wide. “Jacquelyn!”

                The woman was wobbly on her feet and managed to fall to a seat on top of his guitar amp near the door. “Hey Raph.” She smiled at him as she struggled to hold her towel over her and not move her shoulder too much.

                “What’s wrong?” He moved across the room and knelt down before her.

                With a red face, Jack let Raph adjust the towel to cover more of her. She could see the hints of red touching his own features but she said nothing about it. “I didn’t realize how weak I was. I haven’t really eaten much and moving around here and standing in the shower so long, I just…..”

                “You still need to rest Jack.” He said quietly. A large hand moved up and brushed a wet strand out of her face. “You should have stayed in the hospital. But… I’m glad you are home.” A smile crossed his features. It was nice to see something besides anger on his features. “I’ll go grab you some clothes.  But first…” As he got to his feet, he slid his arms around and under her, carefully lifting her. He carried her across the room to a more suitable chair. Then he grabbed the blanket out his hammock and wrapped it around her to help cover her. “Stay put.” He said firmly and then he got up and walked out of the room.

                As Raph crossed the house Mikey perked up from the living room couch. “What’s up Raph?”

                “Jack needs clothes.” He said simply.

                Leo looked up from the kitchen and silently watched as Raphael entered Jack’s room. He had patched and cleaned things up as best he could. But it wouldn’t meet Raph’s standards and he knew it. A few minutes later, Raph came out with a small pile of neatly folded clothes in his hand. He shot Leo a glare as he passed.

                “You forgot to re-paint the wall.” He growled before walking down the other hall and went to his room.  He found Jack in the chair where he had left her. He crossed the room and set the clothes on the night stand beside her. “I didn’t know what you wanted so I just grabbed something that looked like they’d be comfortable.”

                Jack smiled at him. “Thanks Raph, that’s all I wanted.”

                He nodded and turned to leave.

                “Raph?”

                He glanced back at her. “Yeah?”

                Her features darkened as heat rushed her face. “I barely got dressed at the hospital. I couldn’t pull things on or zip them, moving my shoulder hurts and I have to be careful about bending my side at the same time.” She paused. “I could use some help.”

                Raph’s mouth fell open as he looked at her. His own embarrassment showed on his face as he turned around and walked back to her. “I uh… Okay. I’ll do my best to uh… not look.” He fumbled to find the right words. 

                “Thanks.” She said softly. Reaching over she grabbed the pair of underwear Raphael had hidden in the middle of the clothing and offered them to him.

                Raph knelt down in front of her and held them out to help her step in. Once the woman’s feet were in the proper holes, Jack stood, her hand on Raphael’s shoulder to help her keep balance. Raph started to pull the small material up her shapely legs and paused as he had t start spreading the edges of the towel to reveal more of her body. The turtle swallowed hard and closed his eye and looked away as he pulled them up further. He could feel the warm skin of her thighs against his fingers as he carefully crept them up further to cover her. How long had he been wondering what it’d be like to touch her skin in other ways. The turtle had to shake his head to get rid of the thoughts.

                “That’s good.” Jack said quietly as she adjusted the towel to cover her chest. Raphael slowly opened his eyes and looked up at her before he took her hand off his shoulder and got to his feet. “Bra’s next.” She glanced down at it.

                After picking it up and looking at it a moment he offered it to her. Jack however only took one side out of his hand. Back to him, Jacquelyn stepped between him and the bra. She adjust the front over her chest before she dropped the towel and held the material over her.

                “Can you latch it please?”

                Raph obeyed and then watched her slid one of the arm straps over her good shoulder, choosing to let the other one hang under her arm.  After a few adjustments of the garment she turned back around. By now the redness on her face had crept down her neck as well. The turtle standing just a foot away from her couldn’t keep his eye from traveling down her figure, her gentle curves and fair skin. He did take note of the old scars and the massive new one on her side but she was beautiful.

                Jack was talking again. “Can I have my shorts now?”

                The turtle had picked a loose tee shirt and some draw string gym shorts from her drawers. Kneeling down once again, Raph held her shorts open so she could put her legs in the proper holes and then he brought it up to her waist, tying them just tight enough that they stayed on her hips. Without instruction, Raph grabbed her tee shirt and helped maneuver her sore arm into the sleeve before pulling the rest on for her.

                “Thanks Raph.” She gave him a soft smile, but only looked up at him for a moment. “I should go talk to Donnie.” She moved with wobbly steps to head towards the door.

                “Jacquelyn wait, please!” His hand grabbed ahold of her wrist and stopped her. Slowly he moved around to stand before her once more. “I… I know I messed up. I did terrible things. I’m sorry.” There was a sad note in his voice. “I just… I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. Just the thought makes me terrified and furious all at the same time.” He looked down at himself. “I have never had such confusing emotions, no one has ever made me feel this way.” His hand tightened on hers as he looked her in the face. “I don’t want to lose you. You mean more to me than anything. Tell me what I have to do to make this right!”

                The woman looked up at him, her lip trembling as her bright eyes searched the scared features of Raphael’s face. “Raph… I…” Her own hand squeezed his as she took a breath. “Raph-“

                “Jack?” The door flung open and Donatello stood there out of breath.

                The red wearing turtle glared up at his brother. Instantly Donnie regretted his decision to search for the woman. “Sorry…”

                “No it’s okay Donnie.” Jack pulled her hand out of Raphael’s and moved to follow the smartest of the turtles. “I need to talk to you.”

                “But Jack-”

                She looked back to Raphael and gave him a small smile. “We can talk later.” Then she followed Donnie out of the bed room.

                Rapheal grunted and punched his heavy bag as hard as he could. Then he turned and left his room to find his brothers and Jack. He might as well see what the news she had was.

                In Donatello’s lab, Jack was seated in one of his computer chairs, leo and Mikey stood behind Donnie who was seated facing her. Antonello was standing behind Jack, a reassuring hand on her good shoulder. The shell cell on Leo’s hip buzzed to life just as Jack was about to talk.

                “Sorry.” He picked it up and held it to his ear. “Hello?”

                “Leo! I’m so glad you answered…”

                He sighed. “Mona I’m kind of busy at the moment.”

                “I don’t care I have great news! You just have to see it! I-”

                “Mona! I don’t have time for this right now.” Leo hung up on her and turned back to the others. “Please continue Jack.”

                The woman nodded. “Well, I didn’t really know why they took me at first. It was lots of ambiguous questions and slander.” Her eyes looked up at Raph as he quietly entered the room. “I didn’t realize what they wanted until they started talking about codes. When my brother worked for Xanus he was part of a project that worked with the mutagen.  They had some type of machine that they used to get the mutagen from the canister to the animal they wanted to test on. When my brother was thinking about quitting and turning the company in, he changed all four of the codes needed to access and implement the machine. From what I gathered, they managed to figure out the first two codes, but they haven’t figured out the last two.”

                “So why take you?” Ant asked from behind her.

                “My brother told me the codes.”  She sighed. “I didn’t know that’s what they were at first, he made it like a game. He gave me different sets of numbers and played memory games. I struggled remembering them on my own I always mixed them up. But my brother had this way of helping my group them correctly and… I don’t know. He was the smart one. In the end all I know is that I know the codes they need.”

                Donnie was on the edge of his seat. “Well what are they?” He practically demanded.

                “I…” She hung her head. “I don’t know.”

                The look of disbelief on the other’s faces was heart breaking.

                “It’s not that I don’t know them, I do! I just…I have to see them.” She ran a hand through her tangled damp hair. “Anthony had this little gadget, I don’t know… Maybe it was a mock up of how the keys look at the actual machine. I am not good at just memorizing, so It was like a pattern I memorized instead of just the number.”

                Donnie leaned back in his chair thinking about what she said. Leo was still looking at her expecting something more. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” Leo asked.

                “What?” She looked up at him confused.

                “Why didn’t you tell us you knew this before.” He demanded.

                She looked around at all the brothers. “I-I don’t know… It didn’t seem relevant until I found out that’s what they wanted.”

                “Bullshit!” Leo snapped. “This was important and you should have told us when you first got here.”

                “Simmer down Leo!” Mikey elbowed him as he saw the distraught look on Jack’s face.

                Raph shoved his way between his brother’s and got in front of the girl. “This conversation’s over.” He carefully lifted her off the chair into both of his arms and carried her out of the room.

                “I’m sorry I just-”

                “Don’t apologies. You have no reason to.” Raph said quietly as he carried her towards her room. As he nudged the door open with his foot he sighed. “Leo had a bit of a meltdown in here. Sorry about your walls.”

                “They are just walls.” Jack said as she looked around at the white patches on her walls.

                The turtle set her down on her bed and made sure she had a blanket. Then he turned and headed towards the door.

                “Raph… Please wait.” Jacquelyn said as she got to her feet.

                He turned back around and shook his head. With a hand he eased her back down onto the mattress and he pulled the blanket up over her. “You need to rest.” He said softly. He seemed… defeated. There was anger in him still, but looking at her, Raphael just seemed like he had lost some part of himself.

                “Stop it Raphael and look at me.” He lifted his eye to meet hers. “I hate this… this awkward avoidance of each other. I love your brother’s don’t get me wrong, but you are the only one I find comfort in. The only one that I think about and want to run to when I’m scared. “ She ran a hand through her hair. “I just, I don’t know how to come to terms with the fact that you killed someone.”  Her eyes were pleading, begging him to stay.

                Raph sat down on the edge of her bed, facing her. “Jack, Jacquelyn… I …. I killed that man because I didn’t want _this_ happening to you.” He looked at her. “Seeing you in pain. Watching you struggle to breath and move. It kills me. It makes me so angry I just want to do anything to stop it.” He looked at her. “That’s who I am. I can’t tell you that if the chance to redo it came again, that I wouldn’t kill him. I would. Because it protected you… at least for a little while.” He got to his feet and turned to the door. When he pulled the handle back he glanced over his shoulder at her. “When I said I loved you, I meant it.” He walked out.

                Jack was left sitting there, her mind still racing. She didn’t know what to do. Did she have the guts to confess her feelings to him? She couldn’t even tell Arionna when the woman had no idea who he was. But then there was that fear that Raphael would lose control of his rage again. She sat there thinking for hours, late into the night. The home was still, the sounds of gentle snoring coming from the bedrooms as the turtles all slept. Jack quietly slipped out of her bed and made her way across the living room to the hall that held Raphael’s room.

                She stood standing at his door for a long while before carefully opening it and slipping inside.  The room was dark and it took her a few minutes to let her eyes adjust. She found Raph’s outline in the gently rocking hammock. She went to the edge and still the hammock with a hand. Raph said nothing, but Jack wasn’t sure if that was because he was asleep or upset, she couldn’t see his face. She stood there trembling as she stared at the dark mass that was Raphael.

                “I love you Raphael.” She whispered. Then she turned away to walk towards the door.

                A strong hand landed on her shoulder and stopped her. Heart racing, the woman was spun around. 

                “Jacquelyn, you’re trembling.” Raph’s voice was soft but deep as he pulled her towards the hammock. He stepped out of the hanging fabric and moved around her.

                “Raph, I-I’m sorry I-”

                “Shh.” He hushed her. “I know I’m not the easiest to talk to. I’m kind of dumb and bull headed. None of that should make you feel bad.” He wrapped an arm around her and let the other lift up her feet. “You need to get some rest.” With her in his arms he climbed back into his hammock and situated the woman beside him. “Are you okay?”

                Jack’s heart was still pounding as she laid there with Raph like they used to. She had to adjust her position a few times to avoid any pressure or strain on her injuries. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she felt the warmth of the turtle beside her. It was just like how they used to sleep. Only now, Jack had said something to him. But it didn’t seem like he had reacted…. Just like she didn’t when he confessed it to her.

                With her head on his shoulder, Jack couldn’t manage to go to sleep.  After a while she sat up and ran a hand over her face. The hammock swung a bit as Raphael sat up as well. He moved a bit to help center the weight hanging in his bed before he spoke.

                “You okay?” He asked as he peered down at her.

                “I don’t know…” She sighed. “I feel like I have messed everything up. I finally found a home and a place that makes me happy but I have still ruined everything. No one trusts me anymore.”

                “That’s not true.” Raph put a hand on her back when he felt her start to shake. “Leo is just scared. We …we all are. You crashed into our lives but changed it for the better. All of us are afraid of losing you to something terrible.”

 She pushed him pathetically. “I don’t care about what the others think, I care about what _you_ think!” Her lower lip was trembling as she looked at him. “Just you.”

                A big hand found her cheek, his thumb gently rubbing against the warm skin.

 

                Raphael didn’t know what to do. He could still feel the fury bubbling in his core when he thought about what happened to her and the people after her. He just wanted to go back to when he could train her, and they both smiled and she was happy and unafraid. Jack finally said she loved him. The amount of pressure that lifted off his shoulders was unimaginable. To hear she shared his feelings, it made him beyond happy but… did he want to do anything about it and risk hurting their relationship further? He didn’t want to scare her away…

                His hand on her cheek turned her to face him and he leaned down. He hesitated for only a second before her leaned just a little bit further and pressed his lips against hers. His heart was hammering in his chest. Part of him wanted to pull away, scared of her reaction, but the other part just wanted to kiss her more.

                Jack, kissed him back. He hadn’t thought of that reaction as a possibility but her lips moved against his in a small needy kiss. Raphael had to pull away. If he kept going, he wasn’t sure where it would end up, as heat was already flooding through his body.

                “Jacquelyn, I… I’m-”

                “If you say you’re sorry for that I am going to punch you.” Jack cut him off with a smile.

                Raphael managed to chuckle. “Okay then I’m not sorry.”

                The woman curled up in his lap and wrapped his arms around her. She drifted off to sleep shortly after. Raph eased her down in the hammock as he climbed out. His energy was all a buzz now so he wouldn’t be able to sleep. After pulling a light blanket over her, Raph slipped out of his room. He was grinning like a fool as he ran a hand over his smooth head. He never realized how much a simple kiss could affect his mood and change the whole course of where he thought he’d end up with Jack. Perhaps there was really some potential there. He never thought he’d be able to say that.

                There was a clatter in the kitchen that stole his attention. Raph rounded the corner and froze. There was someone hunched over behind the fridge door but it wasn’t a turtle. Instinctively his hand went to his belt, but it wasn’t there, his weapons were sitting on his nightstand. Clenching a fist, he snuck up behind the person and yanked the door away from them.

                When a pretty woman stood up straight, Raph stopped mid swing. He took a step back, his eyes wide, and tripped over the leg of one of the dining room chairs. Falling to the floor he looked up at the human. Long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and her dark eyes stared down at him from behind her bangs. Her body was covered by a pale pink dress that matched the scarf around her neck. The woman was smirking at him.

                “Hello Raph.”

                “M-Mona?” He stuttered in a mix of horror and disbelief. “What the hell happened to you?”


	22. Chapter 22

                Raph scrambled to his feet and took a few steps back away from the woman. His eyes scanned up and down the now human Mona Lisa. “Mona…. H-how… You’re human!”

                The woman was standing there looking at her perfectly painted manicure before pulling her hand closer and looking at it from a different angle. “No shit Sherlock.”

                The turtle glared. “How’d you become human?” He snapped.

                “Well now isn’t that the big question of the night.” She smirked and took a seat at the dining room table. “Why don’t you be a good boy and go fetch Leo for me.”

                His eye narrowed. “I’m not your lap dog Mona. You know where his room is. Fetch him yourself.” With that Raph turned his shell to her and headed back to his room.

                “That’s not a wise decision Raph.” Mona scolded, but made no move to follow him.

                So Raph didn’t turn around. He slowly opened his bedroom door and slipped inside where he could hear the steady breaths of the woman sleeping in his hammock. The turtle went to the edge of the slightly swinging bed and looked down at Jack. A big calloused finger brushed her tangled hair out of her face before he gently started to slide his arms under her.

                That’s when he heard the screams. Jack’s eyes snapped open and locked onto Raph’s face. Raph helped her sit up and put a finger to his lips. “Stay put.” He whispered as he grabbed his sai and flipped them around his hands. Dashing out of the room Raph saw Antonello zipping past him, his axe ready to swing. Following his brother he grit his teeth and stepped out into the living room. The sight that greeted him wasn’t what he expected.

                There were at least a dozen foot soldiers. They had Donatello face down on the floor in restraints. Leo was against the wall, his swords on the floor as someone tightened a chain around his neck. Mikey was dealing with a handful of soldiers in the acrobatic way he always did. Ant stormed in and charged at the Foot soldiers while Raph swung around and took out the nearest intruders. Donatello screamed as something was stabbed into his side. Raph knocked out the Foot in front of him, but he couldn’t see Donnie. What were they doing to him? His fists connected with more soldiers as he shoved them out of the way. His eye searched the room for his brothers.  Leo was gone. Mikey was still tripping and kicking people. Ant wasn’t to his right any more and he could no longer hear the screams from Donnie.

                Another high pitched scream pierced through the sewer home. “Jack!” Raph bolted back to the bedroom. Swinging the door open he charged in but froze two steps into the room. Jack was sitting on the floor against the back wall, Tears were streaming down her face as she looked at the body on the floor before her. The turtle spied three shobo sticking out of the dead masked man. There were two in his neck and one in his temple.

                “I-I… I didn’t mean to… He was…” She was trembling as her bright eyes flicked back and forth between the body and Raphael.

                Shoving the body away from her, Raph knelt down and helped her stand. “It’s okay. You were just defending yourself.” There was a deep seated anger boiling in his gut. He should have been there to protect her. No one should have been able to get that close…. Yet, even with her injuries, with the physical pain she was in, the woman managed to kill another trained fighter. Even Raph couldn’t deny he was kind of proud of her abilities.

                There was a strangled shout from the other room. “Raph!” It was Mikey.

                “Stay put.” Raph grabbed the body and drug it with him back into the open area of the house. What surprised him now was how empty the room was. Mikey was standing there rubbing his shoulder, his head hanging down as he looked at the three bodies that littered the floor. More Foot. More to clean up. _Great…_ Raphael snorted. “More fuckers to get rid of.”

                “Raph…” Mikey said softly.

                “Don’t try to get out of helping me clean up this mess. You guys all helped make it.”

                “Raphael!”

                “What?” Raph yelled at him as he turned around.

                Mikey was glaring. “The others are gone.” He glanced around the room. “They were taken.”

                Raph felt a chill squirm up his spine. He looked at the room. The broken table, the flipped over couch, Leo’s katanas were thrown in the corner, Donatello’s bo staff was broken in half and thrown in opposite corners, Ant’s axe was buried in the back of the sofa. There was blood splattered everywhere. Did it belong to the Foot or was it his brothers’?

                “What do you mean they were taken?” Raph asked behind his gritted teeth.

                “They were taken!” Mikey looked at him hard. “We were outnumbered and cornered and the bastards got them. They tied them up with chains and carried them off! I couldn’t do anything to stop them…”

                The older turtle swallowed hard as his mind tried to process the information. He blinked a few times before shouting and punching the wall. “How the hell did this happen!”

                “I told you it wasn’t smart to get on my bad side.”

                The brothers looked to the destroyed doorway. Mona Lisa was standing there in her little pink dress, smirking.

                Raphael growled and stormed over to her. “What the hell did you do?”

                “ _I_ didn’t do anything.” She turned and started to walk away.

                The red wearing turtle made to follow her but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. His head snapped in the direction and he found Mikey shaking his head. “We need to think. Now is not the time to jump head first.” He paused a moment. “Never thought I’d have to be the one saying that.”

                Raphael hung his head  and ran a hand over his face before he lashed out and punched the wall closest to him. The brick and mortar crumbled with the already dilapidated door and wall.

                “How is she human?” Mikey asked quietly.

                “That’s a damn good question.” Raph snorted. “She had something to do with this. I know it.”

               

                Jack was finally calm, still shaking just a little bit though. Brushing her tangled hair out of her face she found her way to her feet without popping any stitches on her side. Her small bare feet carried her out to a silent living room. The room was simply destroyed; there was no other way to describe it. The couch was flipped over, an axe buried in it. The entertainment center was in pieces, again. There were four bodies of foot soldiers lying in pools of blood on the floor. Jacquelyn took a deep breath and closed her eyes. _Keep calm… calm…_ “Raph?” She called out as she looked around. But nothing answered her. “Raph?” Her voice started to shake. Where was everyone?

                She looked around again. That’s when it dawned on her that the axe in the sofa belonged to Ant. Wrapping her small hand around the handle she wrenched it out of the couch and let it hang by her side. IT was too heavy for her to use, but holding it made her feel a bit safer. Slowly she walked around and found Leo’s katanas and then the broken bo staff.

                “Where are you guys? What happened?” She bit down on her lip as she tried to staunch the growing knot of fear in her stomach. All sorts of scenarios started to run through her head, and none of them were good. Running back to the bedroom, Jack flipped on the light and rummaged around to find the rest of her shobo. They’d be easier to carry than Ant’s axe.  She scanned the corner of the room to find her small sneakers and shoved her feet into them without bothering to find socks. “Fuck this thing.” She pulled her arm out of the sling and tossed the apparatus aside.

                Hurrying out into the living room, Jack stopped suddenly at the sight of something odd standing in the middle of her living room. A figure covered in white fur wearing a blue Japanese-esque outfit? It was something straight out of a history book Jack had seen in high school.

                The figure had swords tied to his waist and a folded cloth wrapped around something was tucked under his arm.

                “Something has gone horribly wrong here.” A soft voce came from him.              

                “W-who are you?” Jack finally stuttered.

                The person-thing turned around. He was a rabbit. His ears tied together and hanging limply down behind his head. He had a small smooth pink nose and a few whiskers that sprouted from his face.

                “Miss Jacquelyn?” He brow quirked as he straightened out the top of his kimono like garment.

                “How do you know who I am?” Jack took a step back.

                He bowed which surprised her. “Miyamoto Usagi at your service. Donatello contacted me at your request for a birthday present for Raphael.”

                “Oh… that was you.” Jack had almost forgotten about that arrangement. It seemed like such a distant thing now.

                The rabbit looked around. “What has happened here?”

                Jack almost laughed nervously but there were tears dripping down her cheeks. “That’s what I’d like to know.”

 

                “Raph, what are you doing?” Mikey was standing in the doorway of a small uptown apartment, keeping watch as his brother tore up the living room. “What are we looking for?”

                “I’ll know it when I find it.” Raph muttered as he started to rip book after book off the shelf and throw it to the floor.

                When the sounds stopped, Mikey turned around and found his brother staring at a hard bound notebook. “What is that?” He crossed the room and stared down at the label on the front of the book. _Xanus Laboratories; Project Deconstruction and Project Reconstruction._ “What the hell does that mean?” Mikey asked, his voice almost shaking.

                “It means Mona was working for Xanus.” He lashed out and punched the shelf, the thin wooden planks breaking and clattering to the floor under the weight of the remaining books and decorations. “The whole fucking time, her obsessions and resources… All came from Xanus.”

                Mikey put his hands on his head and started to walk around in circles. “No… no no no. That doesn’t make any sense!” He looked at his brother. “Mona has been around for years! She is engaged to our brother! She can’t be plotting to do something with this sick psycho!”

                “It doesn’t matter if it makes sense.” Raph flipped through a few pages of the book and looked at it. “We know her hand writing. This is hers.  And you can’t even say you didn’t know how hell bent she was on finding a fucking _cure_ for what happened to her.  Xanus would be the only place that could come close to giving her that.” Raph went to the window after shoving the book in his belt. “We need to get home and tell Jacquelyn. Maybe she’ll have some kind of idea…” He was grinding his teeth, fighting every urge to just sprint across town to get to the corporations building and find his brothers.

                As the pair traversed the dark buildings and streets, Raph hoped that nothing had come back while they were gone. He hadn’t exactly been thinking when he stormed off. Honestly the idea to search Mona’s apartment had only come when he had been half way to the Xanus building. The only thing on his mind had been getting to his brothers, Mikey screaming at him to stop and think finally made him stop. The fact that he had left Jack, alone, hadn’t occurred to him at all. “Pick it up Mikey!” He called over to his shoulder to his brother.

                When they crawled through the rubble blocked door Raph stumbled into the living room. “Jack!” He called out. “Jacquelyn!” The home echoed back at him. He ran back to his bed room and found it empty. Running to the opposite end of the hall he flung her bed room door open. Empty. “Shit.”

                Mikey was in the sparring room, grabbing Leo’s back up katana and an extra staff for Donnie. Raph appeared in the door way, Ant’s axe in his hand. “Dude, where’s Jack?”

                “Not here.” Raph snorted. “Her shobo are gone though so… I don’t think she was taken. Where the hell she went, I have no idea. Or why…”

                “At least she hasn’t been captured. That’s always a good thing.” Mikey tried to sound positive. “So, since she’s not here, hopefully out of harm’s way, why don’t we go get our brother’s back.”


	23. Chapter 23

                “Miss Jacquelyn! Please! You are in no condition to be doing this. You should be at your home, resting.” Usagi was trying to convince the woman to turn back as they traveled through the dark streets of the city.

                “You don’t understand, the sewer is my home. The brothers, they are my family. I have to find them, I have to figure out what is going on.” She looked at him. “I was taken. They want what is in my head. They can’t do… whatever it is they are trying to accomplish without me so… There is that hope that they are okay for now.”

                The rabbit put a white hand on her shoulder. “But isn’t you going straight to Xanus exactly what he wants then?”

                Jack stopped and hung her head. “ I don’t know what else to do.”

                The samurai took a deep breath. “Leonardo and his brothers are some of my closest friends. I will do whatever I can to help you, but this is not how I would advise doing any of this.” Carefully he unrolled the shiny new sai he had constructed and for Raph and placed them in the back of his belt. “We need to proceed with extreme caution Miss.”

                She was about to continue walking when his softly padded hand grabbed her wrist. He put a finger to his lips and pulled a sword from it’s sheath at his waist. He crept along an alley wall and motioned for Jack to stay behind him. The woman had her weapons in hand, just in case she needed to fight. Now she could finally hear the shuffling around the corner. Usagi slid out into the open ready to strike but froze in his tracks.            

                “Miss Jacquelyn!” Usagi returned his sword to his belt and rushed forward into the unknown.

                Jack turned to corner and saw him kneeling at the side of Donatello. The turtle was bleeding from a stab wound in his side, something had managed to pierce the toughness of his plastron. His leg was thrown out limply in front of him. It looked as though it had been run over by a big rig, it was crushed, oozing blood from around the bones poking out.

                “Oh my god…. Donnie…” Jack fell to her knees at his side, her small hand on his cheek trying to keep him in a state of consciousness. “Donnie, talk to me. Don… Don, stay with me please.”

                His head was wobbling from side to side as he blinked slowly. “Jack?” He looked at her. “What…. Why are you out here?”

                “I came to find you guys. Where are the others? What happened?” Tears were welling up in her eyes.

                “We were trying… escape.” His eyes closed.

                “Donnie!”

                They snapped open again. “Ant busted open the door, Leo threw me out first… Said they were coming right behind…” His head lulled to the side again.

                “He is losing a lot of blood.” Usagi was tying cloths around his wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding as best as he could. “He needs help.”               

                Jack got to her feet and wiped at the tears on her face. “Take him home Usagi.” She looked around. “Hopefully some of the equipment in his room wasn’t destroyed. You can help patch him up with that.”

                “But Miss Jacquelyn! What are you going to do?” Usagi looked up at her horrified. “You can’t continue by yourself.”

                “Me going home is useless. I can’t carry Donnie.” She said finally. “Take him back. I’m going to Xanus.” She turned on her heel and headed towards the center of the city.

 

                Raph pulled his Sai from his belt as he heard the echo of foot prints coming down the sewer tunnel. Mikey flicked out his nun chucks and readied for a fight just like his brother. But the people coming around the corner weren’t what he was expecting.

                “Donnie?” He shoved his weapons in his belt and rushed forward. “Usagi? What the hell are you doing here?”

                Mikey saw the condition of his brother and sighed. “Oh man… Donnie what the hell happened!”

                Raph looked at his brother and grabbed his free arm, helping the rabbit carry him back towards their home. It seemed like everything was just stopping him from going to look for Jack, but he wasn’t about to abandon his brother when he was so badly hurt.

                “Don! Where are Leo and Ant?” Mikey asked as he cleared off a table in Donnie’s room.

                Raph and Usagi hoisted Donatello up onto the table.

                “Donnie! Donnie! Wake up… tell us what to do!” Raph smacked his brother’s face to rouse him.

                The injured turtle opened his eyes slowly. “Okay… Just, make sure you listen…closely…”

 

                Jack wiped at her tear covered cheeks as she peeked out of an ally way. IT was the middle of the night, no one was around except for a few cars slowly putting by. The woman looked across the street at the giant building looming over everything else. Xanus Pharmaceuticals. Setting a stony expression on her face she stepped out and crossed the road.

                A horn blared and tires screeched as Jacquelyn was caught in the headlights. The old station wagon stopped a few inches from hitting her.

                “Jack?! What the hell are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you still be in the hospital?!”

                The blonde looked up at the face stepping out of the car. “Arionna?”

                “What the hell are you doing?!” The woman rushed over, her curls bouncing around her frantic face. “Why are you in the middle of the street?” She asked as she took Jack’s hands. “Are those… weapons?” She asked as her eyes spied the metal spikes in her hands. “What is going on?”

                Jack pulled her hands from the other woman’s grip and hid the shobo behind her back. “Nothing Arionna, go home.” She turned and started for the building once more.

                “Jack stop!” The red head grabbed her friend by the arm and forced her to stop. “You are barely standing! You should still be in the hospital but I find you out here on the street in the middle of the night?! What the hell is going on? Where are the guys? Why are you all alone? What happened?”

                “I don’t know!” Jack finally screamed. Her red eyes stared at her feet as her shoulders shook. “They are just gone, Donnie… we found him half dead but the others… I don’t know.” Jack pushed Arionna away from her. “Go… go help Donnie, I need to do this. It’s too dangerous for you.” Half limping half running, Jack abandoned her coworker in the street

                “Jackie!” Arionna called after her as another car started honking at her before it drove around her car which was still parked in the middle of the road.

 

                After picking a lock on a maintenance door, Jack found her way inside. It was dark, there wasn’t anyone around, at least not where she was. But somewhere in this building, her family was being held and who knew what was happening to them.

                The woman crept from room to room, staying out of sight and avoiding any people she came across. She hid in the shadows, behind shelves and under desks as the purple dragons passed by in the hallways. But while she was hiding and moving about the first few floors, Jack learned that the laboratory the turtles were in was on the twelfth floor. Getting upstairs without being noticed was a bit more difficult. The stairs had no cover and the elevators would let everyone know exactly where she was. So it was the stairs, but she had to move as quickly as she could.

                The twelfth floor was crawling with people. Purple dragons, men in lab coats, even a few people in suits. Jacquelyn’s hands were shaking, her fists gripping her weapons tightly as she hunkered behind a file cabinet. Squeezing her eyes shut she took a deep breath. There were a bunch of desks and tables full of beakers and equipment, but she couldn’t see the other side of the room.

                Suddenly the sirens started to wail.

                “Intruder!” Someone shouted. “There is an intruder in the building!”

                Panic ensued. The gang members all snagged weapons and started to scatter. The men in lab coats looked more nervous and started to mill about more nervously.

                “The larger one is become more aggressive! We need to start the Deconstruction process now before he breaks out of the containment area.” One of the scientists ran over to a counter and started to punch things into a computer display.

                Jack could hear banging, muffled shouting. She peered out from her hiding place and saw the two large containment areas in the back of the room. Two large single person stalls with see through walls were erected against the back wall. Tubes and wires linked them to machines and computers. Leonardo was in one of the small stalls, Antonello in the other. Ant was in a rage, he was throwing himself against the walls trying to break free. The walls bowed but refused to break. Leo, in the stall beside him, was clearly panicked, but looking around a bit more sensibly. He was checking corners, testing the wires at the back of his small prison. He grabbed a fistful of wires from the console and ripped them out, nothing happened. She didn’t have time to question where Mikey or Raphael was when a scientist approached from the other side of the room.

                He pressed a button beside the containers that held her friends and the tubes connected to them started to rumble to life.

                This wasn’t good. Whatever was happening, was happening now and she was the only one there to stop it. “No!” She cried out as she burst from her hiding place.

 

                Leonardo saw a small familiar figure dart out from behind a desk. His hands pressed up against the clear wall of his confinement as he looked at her. “Jack?” he beat his hand against the wall. “Jack! Get out of here!”

                The woman made a bee line for the closest person she could. Leo watched her dance around the incompetent bookworm and incapacitate him. Despite the situation, Leo had never taken the opportunity to appreciate what skill Jacquelyn had actually attained. She was becoming quite the ninja. Something rattled above him and Leo looked up as a vent in the roof of his cell started to leak some kind of fog around him. Eyes darted over and met Ant’s for a brief second before the younger turtle again tried to break himself out to no avail. The fog was filling his cell as well.

                Jack was still taking down a few of the scientists when Leo spotted a Purple Dragon coming up behind her. “Jack!” He shouted. But it was no use. She couldn’t hear him.

                He watched as the teenager put his friend in a choke hold. Jack was hoisted off the ground from behind, kicking and struggling to breathe. Leo was coughing as the gas started to enter his lungs but he didn’t care, he was too focused on Jack. Where was Raph? Where was Mikey? Shouldn’t they be the ones here helping? Why was Jack here fighting alone? The kid punched the squirming Jack in the side and Leo watched blood blossom on her shirt. Her stitches were ripped open once more.

                Finally Jack managed to thrust her shobo into the throat of the kid behind her. Instantly she was dropped to the floor as the teenager fell backwards and struggled to take a breath. Jack left the weapon in his neck as she backed away. She was trembling, the prospect of actually taking a life still seemed to unnerve her. It was something Leo realized they needed to discuss, but it’d have to wait.

                The fog was getting thicker. He coughed and suddenly his knees gave out and he fell against the clear wall.

                Jack was before him in an instant. She was saying something, he couldn’t tell what. Ant was on his knees as well, but was still trying to punch his way out. Jack was still talking and pointing at things. Leo just shook his head, he couldn’t hear her. The woman moved over to the counter and found the computer. Leo couldn’t see her.

                His mind was starting to get hazy. He couldn’t see straight. Crawling to the back of his small cell he grabbed hold of some of the wires he had pulled on earlier and tried to get them to do… something. Nothing happened.

                There was a screeching sound and Leo was able to make out the shape of Ant crawling out of his cell. Jack had gotten his cell open. _At least she got one of us out._ He smiled to himself. His hands felt so heavy, they fell to his lap as he collapsed back against the wall. Something was beating on the wall opposite him but he couldn’t see any more, everything was black. The air was so thick now, all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep. He couldn’t fight it any more.

                Leo fell to the floor and slipped into unconsciousness.


	24. Chapter 24

                Jack ran over to Antonello as he collapsed, coughing on the floor, the fog from his cell, rising to the ceiling and dissipating into the air. “Ant!” She grabbed his arm, and helped him up. “Are you okay?” She winced, the action straining herself.

                He nodded, still coughing.

                Looking up the woman realized that it was only his cell that had opened up. “No...” She breathed. “No no no!” She ran over to where Leo was being held and tried to peer into the cell. It was so full of thick fog she couldn’t see anything. “Leo!” She cried. “Leo hang on!” She yelled before running and half tripping over Ant to get to the computer console again. Her side was aching but she tried to ignore it.

                Staring down at the keypads she froze. The numbers looked like hieroglyphs to her, it wasn’t making sense.  She closed her eyes and took a breath. The pattern, that was all she had to remember. It clicked and her hand moved in one of the patterns her brother had forced her to memorize. The cell clicked and the doors opened.

                Jack rushed over and waited for the fog to dissipate and roll away before she stepped in. “Leo?”  She asked.

                But the more of the fog that faded away, the more of the cell was revealed, and the more she realized Leo wasn’t there.

                “Leo?” She took a step further inside and her foot hit something. Kneeling down Jack picked up the belt that Leo constantly wore to hold his katana. “What?” Her gaze shifted down when she saw something moving. There on the floor between her knees was a small turtle slowly walking towards her. Bright blue eyes stared up at her as he nudged at the belt in his way. “Oh my god… Leo?” Jack pulled her hand away from her bleeding side and picked him up before she rose to her feet with him in her hands.

                “Jack!” Ant was calling for her. “How’s Leo?”

                “W-we… we have a problem.” She stepped out to find Ant on his feet, looking around, and trying to secure the nearest door.

                “Problem?” He turned around and froze. “Oh… shit.” He looked down at the little un-mutated version of Leo that was sitting in Jack’s hands. He looked up at her. “Can you… can you fix this? Can you make him normal again?” He asked in a hurry.

                Jack’s mouth fell open. “I-I don’t know. I just know some codes I don’t really know what they do!”

                “Well you have to do something! We can’t leave him like this!”

                Jack looked back at the computer. “You watch the doors. I’ll see what I can do.”

                The turtle nodded and found a makeshift weapon as Jack went back to Leo’s cell. The woman set him down on the floor and frowned. “Stay here.” She said. “Hopefully I can get this to work and you will be back to normal.”         

                He took a few tiny steps after her as she turned and walked out to go back to the computer. Standing at the counter, Jacquelyn stared at the controls and the buttons for a few long minutes. She tried to remember the other patterns her brother had taught her. Her hand hovered over the keys and moved slightly before she finally depressed a few keys in a series of patterns. The doors on Leo’s cell closed half way and then a red light on the computer flashed.

                “What…?” Jack asked herself. “I don’t…” She typed in the pattern again. And again the doors tried to close but stopped as the light on the console flashed. Her hand clutched her side as she felt her resolve starting to crumble with the pain. “I don’t understand.”

                “Jack you need to hurry!” Ant called to her. “We need to get out of here before people start showing up!”

                She looked back at the turtle who was peering down the hallway and down the stairwell. “Ant, come here!” When he reached her side she repeated the pattern. “When I tell you to, do that.”

                “Those numbers?”

                “Sure, yes, whatever buttons I just pressed, in that order…. Just press them when I tell you to. Okay?”

                “Okay.”

                Jack went into Leo’s cell. The small turtle was slowly crawling along the floor and met her at the back wall where she found the wires he had ripped out. Her bloody hands found the wires and started to piece them back together. She carefully twisted what she hoped would be corresponding wires to one another to connect the proper circuits.

                “Try it now!” She called to Ant.

                A few seconds later the doors to the cell slammed shut and the vent above her hummed to life, pumping fog back into the cell.

                She rushed to the door and started to beat on it while Ant beat on the other side. Fear filled the teenager’s eyes as he looked through the clear wall at her. He had trapped her in there. Jack smiled softly at him and shook her head. It was no use. She simply sank down to a seat and looked at her side. Her shirt was thoroughly soaked through with blood now, her hands slick with the fluid. The leader of their little family slowly made his way to her and she held her hand out to him. Scooping him into her palms she lifted him to eye level. “I guess we will just have to see what this does to me. Hopefully it fixes you though. The world needs you more than me.” She started to cough and lowered the little turtle to her lap. “I was never mad at you, you know. I know you were always just doing what you thought was best for the family… Raph gets that too. He’s just too stubborn to admit it.” Her eyes were getting heavy, she couldn’t see very well. So Jack just let her eyes close and let the darkness consume her.

 

                Usagi was pacing in the kitchen. He had already picked up and cleaned what he could of the mess in the home but there wasn’t much left for him to do. The brothers were still in Donatello’s room trying to fix him. There had been a scream not too long ago, followed by the sound of someone puking. The rabbit knew it wasn’t good but they had asked him to step out so he obeyed without question.

                Finally Michelangelo came out to the kitchen and got himself a drink of water. His hands were shaking as he put the glass to his mouth and took a drink.

                “Michelangelo? Is everything alright? How is Donatello?”

                Mikey stared down at the glass. “I don’t know. We aren’t doctors Usagi… Donnie was the only one ever good at this kind of thing… the bone is shattered like glass there are just pieces everywhere, I think there are even some missing? I…”

                “Hello?” A soft voice out in the sewer surprised the pair and they instantly went silent. “Hello? Is anyone down here?” The feminine voice called again. There was a clatter and a startled cry. “Oh damn it… I knew I shouldn’t have come down here by myself. I’ll never find anything. I should have just gone home.”

                Mikey looked at Usagi and then inched his way towards the front door silently. It was still barely hanging there, it was more like a crumpled hole in the wall to any passerby, if those were common in the sewer. Peeking out, Mikey spotted the curly red head from the café that Jack worked at.

                “It’s you.” He said suddenly.

                Arionna jumped and looked over at Mikey, hand on her racing heart. She smiled nervously. “Heh, yeah… I um… I was worried about you guys. I thought I’d come see if there was anything I could do to help.”

                The turtle motioned her inside. Once she had crawled over the rubble, she took a moment to look around at the disastrous state of the living area.

                “How’d you know something had happened?” Mikey asked, breaking her from her staring.

                She looked up at him, her curls bouncing around her face. “Oh, I almost ran over Jack… She was in such a hurry to get to Raph I think she was so adamant on getting to him and helping him. But she said I wouldn’t be able to help with that… Jack said Donnie was hurt…” She tucked a curl behind her ear. “Don’t take this the wrong way… But um, my father is a veterinarian. I thought that, if someone was hurt since you guys can’t get to the hospital, I might be able to help. I’ve helped my fair share of animals in the past.”

                “None taken… We could actually use the help.” Mikey rubbed his head and led her over to Donatello’s room. “It’s pretty bad.” He paused. “Wait… Raph is here… Where exactly was Jack going?”

                Before Arionna could answer there was another scream and the door to Donnie’s room flew open. Raphael was standing there. “Mikey! Get-“ He stopped. “Who the hell are you? Wait… You are that girl… from the café…” He shook his head. “Never mind. Mikey, get in here.”

                Arionna followed the turtles into the room and instantly gasped. The sight before her looked like something straight out of a horror movie. Donatello was splayed out on a table, barely breathing. Blood was covering the table and floor as well as Raphael’s arms, and numerous towels and bandages that had just been thrown about.

                “Stop. Just… Stop.” The words came out of her mouth before she could stop them.

                “What did you say?” Raphael almost snapped.

                “I don’t care what you are doing, just don’t touch him anymore, let me fix whatever mess is going on.” Arionna pushed the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbows and walked around to the head of the table. Donatello was barely conscious. She swallowed hard. That was not at all how she had wanted to talk to him again. But situations deemed otherwise.

                “Donnie… Donnie, look at me. Where do you have the anesthetic?”

                “The what?” Mikey asked as Donnie simply pointed to a shelf.

                Arionna went to the shelf and rummaged through a few bottles of pills. She found what she was looking for and handed it to Michelangelo. “Crush up two pills and mix it with water. Let me know when you have done that.”

                The turtle obeyed without question while the human turned to examine his leg. She frowned and felt her heart sink. She had seen this kind of injury before. It wasn’t going to end well. Suddenly a hand grabbed her wrist. She jumped and looked up at Donnie’s face.

                “I know.” He mumbled. “Just… make it quick.”

                “I have the pills…” Mikey brought over a tiny dish of murky liquid, the crushed pills in water.

                Arionna took the dish and set it on the table. “I need a syringe.”

Raphael opened a drawer and pulled out a clean one and offered it to her. “What are you doing?”

                “I’m knocking him out.” She filled the needle with the sedative and evacuated any air bubbled before stepping up to Donnie’s arm. “He doesn’t need to be awake for this.” After injecting him with the liquid Arionna looked up at Raphael. “I’m going to need your help. This isn’t going to be pleasant or easy…”

                “What do you need me to do?” Raphael asked.

                Arionna was taking off her belt and slipping it around Donatello’s leg. She pulled it tight around his calf, just below his knee on the muscle that was still intact. “We need to amputate his leg.”

 

                Once it was all over, Raphael hoisted Donatello, now one limb short, up and carried him across the room to his actual bed.  Arionna was helping Mikey clean up what was left of the mess around the table where they had operated on the other turtle.

                “Why do you work at a café? Shouldn’t you be working in a hospital or something if you can do this stuff?” Mikey asked her.

                “I’m in college. The café is just a part time job. Hopefully I’ll be off to medical school once I graduate but…” She shrugged. “I’m not sure I could handle doing this every day.” Frowning she looked at Donatello.

                Crossing the room she took a seat at the edge of the bed to keep an eye on her… patient. “I’ll stay here and watch him.”

                “Thank you.” Raph looked down at her. “I… if you weren’t here…”

                She held up a hand. “Don’t worry. Now you need to go get Jack before she gets herself killed.”

                Raphael’s face paled. In all the commotion with his brother, all the fear, he hadn’t realized how long Jack had been missing, how long he had been postponed from going after her. “Damn it… where is she? Do you know where she went?!”

                Arionna hung her head. “She was heading for the Xanus building when I almost ran her over. She insisted on going she was looking for all of you.”

                Raph grit his teeth and turned around. Storming out of the room and into the kitchen, he found Usagi and his younger brother talking about what they had just done to Donatello. “Mike, Usagi, we are leaving.”

                The rabbit grabbed the sai from his belt and laid them on the table. Beautiful new shiny sai with red leather handles. He offered them to Raphael. “They are from Miss Jacquelyn. A birthday present for you.”

                He took the weapons and flipped them around his hands before shoving them in his belt and removing the old ones. “Let’s go. We still need to find her, Leo and Ant.”


	25. Chapter 25

                Antonello grumbled to himself. He could hear the foot seps of people approaching. He glanced behind him at the cell that held his brother and his friend. It was still full of fog that was so thick you couldn’t see through it.

                “Come on guys… we need to get out of here.” He mumbled to himself.

                Suddenly a hairy white face filled the little glass window of the door to the stairwell. Ant nearly shouted at the sight as he recognized the purple stripe across the eyes of the mutant. Alopex. The fox had her blade in the edge of the door trying to pry it open. Ant swallowed hard as he locked the door and kept it shut. Rushing to the elevator Ant jammed it open so no one could use it.

                Running back to the door he grabbed the handle just in time to prevent Alopex from busting the door open.

                “Open the door turtle!” She shouted. “You can’t escape!”

                Ant got a glimpse of the stairwell behind her, it was full of people. More than he could handle. Closing his eyes, Ant rested his forehead against the door. “How are we going to get out of this…?”

                Suddenly there was more yelling from the stairwell. Ant picked up his head and tried to get a look but Alopex still blocked his view as she fought with him to open the door. The fox stopped and then turned around. She yelled at some men behind her, then she walked away from the door. That’s when Antonello saw what was happening. Raphael and Mikey were fighting their way through the crowd with a mutant rabbit assisting them as well.

                Something dinged behind him. Antonello turned around and looked at the cell doors as they slowly slid open. The fog was quickly fading away revealing what Ant had come to know as the normal version of Leonardo. He was standing there, an unconscious Jack in his arms. But there was something definitely different about them.

                “Oh shit…” Was all Ant managed to say before the door beside him was kicked in.

                “Jack!” It was Raphael, sai in hand as he looked around the room. Mikey and Usagi were behind him, the stairwell now clear… for the moment at least.

                They all froze at the sight of Leo and Jack. Raph opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out, instead it was Mikey who managed to say something.

                “Leo… What happened to you?”

                The eldest turtle looked down at the woman in his arms. The hands holding on to her now had five digits instead of the three he was accustomed to. His fingers adjusted his grip on her shoulder and leg awkwardly, the sensation of more fingers strange. Then he looked up to his brothers with multi colored eyes, the left now a bright emerald green while the right its normal blue.

                The human in his arms didn’t escape her own odd changes. Above and around her left eye was a patch of green skin much like Leo’s own skin. That was the only change that the turtles and Usagi could perceive, for now.

                Raphael snapped out of his shock and rushed towards the pair. He brushed some hair out of Jack’s face his large fingers pausing at the odd green skin on her face before he carefully took her from his brother. “What the hell was she doing here alone?” He asked through gritted teeth.

                “She thought you were here…” Leo sighed, still staring down at his new hands.

                “Dude…” Mikey came over and put one of his hands in his brothers, their fingers flexing against one another’s. “Your hands… they are human.”

                Leo pulled his hand away from his brother, almost as if he was embarrassed. “Something happened in there… With Jacquelyn bleeding, something got cross contaminated.”

                “We can figure that out later.” Antonello said suddenly. “We need to get home. Now! Jack needs help and who knows when more people will be coming up these stairs looking for us.”

                “Your friend is right.” Usagi said hastily, he had never been introduced to Ant before. “Miss Jacquelyn needs medical attention.”

                Raph snorted. “Ant, lead the way.” He looked at his older brother but said nothing as he started to follow the other’s out.

                In his arms Jack whimpered. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment and Raph caught sight of another change that had taken place. Her left eye, the one surrounded by green skin, was now the blue of what used to be Leo’s. The pair had almost literally swapped eyes while in the cell together.  Raphael hushed the girl and adjusted his grip as they made their way through the corridors and down to the first floor to try and get out of the building. “Hang on Jack.” He whispered.

               

                A sharp pain rippled up Donatello’s leg as his body twitched. He cried out as his eyes snapped open. A soft hand on his shoulder caused his head to jerk to the side and more pain to ripple thought his body.  When his eyes focused he blinked in confusion. “Arionna? What… what are you doing here?” He tried to recall what had happened but his mind wasn’t quite functioning like normal. “How’d you find where we live?”

                The woman smiled and patted his shoulder. “You don’t remember?”

                “Remember? What happened?” He seemed so confused.

                Arionna frowned. “You guys were attacked… I think.” A sigh escaped her. “Some of you were taken. You were hurt really bad. Jack sent me here to help you out.”

                His brow furrowed for a moment but then his eyes got wide as he realized. “My leg…” Wincing and pushing past the pain of his side, he propped himself up on his elbows so he could stare down at the missing appendage. “I thought… I had imagined it.” He mumbled.

                “I’m sorry Donnie.” She frowned.

                “Don’t apologize. I just…” He laid back down and closed his eyes. “It’s a hard thing to come to terms with. Losing an appendage. I wonder if this is what Ant felt like when Leo severed his hand in two…” He mused aloud, trying to think his way around the situation.

                The human at his side got to her feet and went to the counter on the other side of the room. She found a bottle of pain killers and a bottle of antibiotics grabbing a glass of water. She returned to his side with the items and waited for him to prop himself up once more. “You need to take these.” She handed him the glass and then offered him the pills when he was ready. “They will help.”

                Donatello swallowed down the pills, spilling half the water down his chest when he started to cough.

                “Easy…” Arionna took the glass from him and set it aside as he leaned back down on his bed.

                The turtle groaned a bit and then half smiled. “So… did you ever finish that book?”

                Arionna paused and blinked. “What?” She asked suddenly.

                “That book, the uh…. Song of Ice and Fire… you were reading it last time I saw you.” Donnie looked over at her briefly at her. “Did you finish it?”

                “Oh…” Arionna thought back on when they had found her in the alley behind the café. It was when Jack had disappeared. “No, I haven’t finished it just yet. I did make it to the chapter you mentioned though. I can see why you liked it.” She half smiled. “Great plot twist.”

                Donnie tried to laugh but it quickly dissolved into a pain filled groan. “Yeah.  Sorry you had to be invited over under these circumstances. I would have rather it been different…”

                “Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad I was here when I was…”

                “I’m surprised you aren’t scared of us… Especially after all of this.” He admitted.

                The girl shrugged. “Jack isn’t scared of you. And while she isn’t the most usual person, I do trust her and her judgment. Besides, you guys made quite an impression when we first met.”

                Donnie went to speak but paused for a moment before continuing. “Where are the others anyway?”

                Arionna looked over at the door. “Well… some of them were here. Two of your brothers; the one that wears red and the one in orange. There was also a rabbit.”

                “What about Leo and Ant? Where are they?”

                “I…. I don’t know.” She admitted. “Your brother didn’t say anything about them until after we took care of you. The one here, um… Raphael? He seemed too preoccupied with your wellbeing to worry about mentioning them until we were sure you’d be okay. Then they all ran out the gaping hole in the sewer wall looking for them and Jack.” She looked down at the watch on her wrist. “It’s been maybe an hour now since they left.”

                “What’s taking them so long?” The turtle on the bed winced as he tried to move on the bed.

                “Be still!” Arionna insisted. She frowned as she looked down at him, chewing on her lip she scratched her head. She wasn’t used to doing this sort of thing. Normally she was quiet and studious, not talkative or outgoing. Jack was rally the only one she spoke to outside of her study groups.

                There was a loud clatter outside of Donatello’s room. Arionna jumped and looked at the door as someone started yelling.

                “Uncle Mikey! Uncle Raph!” It was a little girl.

                “Yo! Raph! Donnie! Leo! Ant! Jack! You guys here?” A man.

                Arionna got to her feet and cautiously opened the door to donatello’s bedroom. When she looked out into the living area she saw a well-built man with wild black hair and a girl of a bout ten with the same kind of hair.

                “Dad, what happened?” The girl asked.

                “That’s a good question kiddo.” The man scratched his head. “Maybe I should have brought out the old hockey stick…”

                The girl Wondered further into the house. She paused and looked at the reddish brown stain across the floor. “Dad… is that blood?”

                The man grabbed her arm and pulled her against his side. “Shadow you stay right with me.” He demanded. “Something bad happened here.”

                “Hello?” Arionna finally spoke.

                The pair whipped around and looked at the bedroom door. The man instinctively put the girl behind him. “Who are you?” He glared at her.

                “I’m uh… I’m Arionna. I’m one of Jack’s friends.” She recognized him from the hallway at the hospital when she helped Jacquelyn leave.

                The man visibly relaxed. “You know where the guys and Jack are? Are they alright?”

                She frowned. “Alright is a relative term… and I only know where some of them are…” She opened the bedroom door further. “Donnie is in here. Raphael, Mikey? And a rabbit went to go look for Jack and the other two turtles… I’m still trying to figure out all their names.”

                “Leo and Ant… the Rabbit… Usagi? He hasn’t visited in years.” The man stepped towards her. “Where is Donnie? What the hell is going on?”

                Arionna stepped aside and let the man and girl past her. “What led to all this, I have no idea. All I know is that something bad has happened.”

                The man and girl rushed to Donatello’s side. “Donnie!” The man grabbed his hand. “Oh man… What happened?”

                “Casey?” Donnie looked at him. “What are you doing here?”

                “We were going to come check in on Jack since she left the hospital against orders. What the hell has happened here?”

                “We were attacked.” Donnie said through gritted teeth. “The purple dragons. Alopex.”

                “Why? What do they want?” Casey ran a hand through his long hair.

                “I don’t know. Mona was human. She was… leading them.”

`               Casey recoiled. “Mona? As in Leo’s lizard fiancé?”

                “She’s not a lizard anymore… she’s human again.” Donnie told him.

                “How the hell does that happen?!”

                “Uncle Donnie…” Shadow crawled up beside him. “What happened to everyone else?” She seemed to be more sensible than her father.

                The turtle on the bed closed his eyes tightly and tried to think. “They swarmed us. We fought as hard as we could but… Something hit my neck. I blacked out for a minute. The next thing I knew I was in chains in the back of a truck. Ant and Leo were with me. Ant broke his chains and got us loose but he couldn’t break his way to the front of the truck. Instead we broke open the back door. We were flying down the road, at least seventy five miles an hour. Leo said to jump. So I did.”

                Arionna cringed at the thought, she just knew this is where things went bad.

                “Another truck came out of nowhere. More dragons. As soon as I hit the pavement in a nice controlled roll, tires rolled right over my leg. They left me there, guess they thought I was dead. I found an ally but didn’t make it much further. Jack and Usagi showed up a little bit later. Jack left, Usagi brought me home and Raph and Mikey were here. Arionna showed up and helped fix what’s left of my leg.”

                “So what happened to the others?” Casey asked.

                “They left to try and find Jack, Leo and Ant.” Donnie squeezed his eyes shut.

                Arionna grabbed the bottle of pain killers. “Okay that’s enough.” She said suddenly. “Donnie needs to get some rest.”

                Shadow climbed off the bed and Casey took a few steps back so Arionna could give the turtle the pills. Once he swallowed them, Donatello closed his eyes and turned his head away from everyone. Arionna shooed the other two from the room and shut off the lights as she followed. Pulling the door closed behind her, she kept it open a crack, just in case Donatello woke up.

                “I’m surprised he lasted that long…” She mumbled to herself.

                Casey scratched his head. “Thank you.” He said suddenly. “The guys… with all that’s going on, might not remember to say it but, thanks for what you are doing.”

                She blinked. “Oh… yeah sure.”

                “I’m Casey Jones. This is my daughter Shadow.” He held out a hand.

                “Arionna.” They shook hands.

                “How’d you meet the guys?” Casey asked as he watched his daughter run over to the fridge and dig around for something to drink.

                She scratched her head and walked over to the kitchen, looking around, and picking up things here and there trying to clean. “I work with Jack at the café a few blocks over.”

                “Oh yeah, I helped her get that job.”

                “Well, she went missing while we were closing up but I found her weird little cell phone thing and it called Donnie. They showed up a little bit later looking for her.”

                Casey nodded. “Well, that’s what they do. Kick ass and cause trouble. Been that way for years.” He shook his head. “Why don’t I help you clean up a bit. Make it at least a little less messier. Hopefully nothing else will go wrong tonight.”                

                The woman nodded. Even shadow joined in as they picked up debris from broken furniture and crumpled walls. They put it in a bag and piled it in the center of the floor where Casey said he’d take it up to a dumpster when he left. They straightened what was left of the furniture and scrubbed the blood off the floor. It was almost normal, except for the giant hole in the wall.  

                Casey looked up when he heard the sound of bricks clattering to the floor. He instinctively grabbed for the axe he had pulled from the back of the sofa. But what walked into the home wasn’t an enemy, but it wasn’t what he was expecting either. The axe slipped from his grip and thunked to the floor. “Holy shit guys you look like hell… what happened?” He asked. Then he saw Leo and Jack. “Oh damn…”


	26. Chapter 26

                Arionna sighed as she got to her feet. “You should have just got in my car when I found you on the street.” She mumbled, staring down at Jack as the girl slept in her bed. The barista pulled a light blanket up over her friend. Exiting the room she was instantly greeted by Raphael and Mikey.

                “How is she?” Raphael demanded.

                “Unconscious.” She said simply.

                He snorted.

“Will she be okay? What’s with the green skin on her face? When is she going to wake up?” Mikey bombarded her with questions.

                Arionna held up her hands, in one was a vile of a thick red fluid. “I don’t know.” She started walking towards Donatello’s room. “I’m only in pre-med. I’m not a chemist or a biologist. I can stich her up but I have no idea what… happened with the skin.” She glanced at Leo and then back to Raph. “Even I have realized Donnie is smarter than I am. Once he is feeling better, maybe he can tell you something more.”

                Walking into the room she set the vile of Jack’s blood on a stand near a microscope and grabbed a bottle of pills. Returning to the living room she stepped up to Raphael and shoved the pills into his hand.

                “Jack tore all of the stitches on her side open, the skin is a tattered mess I couldn’t stitch it back together so I just bandaged it the best I could. I made sure her shoulder was still in it’s socket and dressed whatever other wounds I found. These are antibiotics. She’ll need to take them twice a day to make sure that gash in her side doesn’t get infected. I’m sure she’ll also need plenty of pain killers.”

                Raph stared down at the bottle in his hand and then headed over to the room that held the woman he had failed to protect.

                Across the room, Leo was standing at the dining room table with Usagi. He was holding one of his katana, his fingers flexing around the handle.

                “How does it feel?” The rabbit asked.

                “Strange.” Leo said simply. “Unbalanced. I don’t like it…” He frowned.

                “Excuse me.”

                They both looked at Arionna.

                “Sorry to interrupt. Raph is really preoccupied with Jack, I just wanted to let someone a bit more level headed know what is going on with Donnie.”

                “You are the one that took off his leg?” Leo asked her abruptly.

                She nodded.

                He sighed. “Thank you for looking out for him while we were gone.”

                Again she nodded. “Look, he is going to need a lot of rest. He needs antibiotics and painkillers on a regular basis. His bandages need changed every day and the stitches need checked to make sure that the muscle and bone are sitting properly in the stump and they haven’t dislodged and moved too close to the edge of the incisions. Keep him in bed. I understand he might be able to give you guys some answers but he needs rest. He won’t be able to move for a few weeks. Minimum.”

                The eldest turtle nodded, his mismatching eyes meeting the human’s before him. “I’ll make sure he takes it easy. But I’ll be honest with you, we have some problems we need to deal with and his expertise is needed… and I’m not talking about… my own current issues.” He flexed his hand and dropped it to his side.

                “Just take it easy on him.” She turned towards the door, or what was left of it. “I have class in the morning and work… it’ll be like that for the rest of the week. But if anything happens, if anything goes wrong with either of them, or any of you for that matter, just call me.” With that she left and headed back to the surface.

 

                Dual colored eyes slowly opened as Jack brought a hand to her temple. Her head hurt, her side more. She coughed a bit as she tried to get her eyes to focus. That’s when she heard the familiar snoring of someone she knew well. Turning her head she found Raphael sitting in a chair, hunched over at her side. He was leaning on the side of her bed, sleeping, holding loosely to her other hand.

                Smiling softly Jack pulled her hand from him and placed it on his head. She gently rubbed the smooth skin of his head, careful of the strap for his eye patch and the bandanna around his eyes. “Hey…” She tried to say, but her voice cracked, rough and raspy. Clearing her throat she tried again. “Hey.” It was soft, but at least coherent this time.

                The large turtle grumbled as he lifted his head still half asleep. Rubbing at his eye it took him a second to realize what had woken him up.

                “Jack!” He exclaimed. Sitting up he took her hand in his. “How do you feel?”

                “Sore… but I’ll be okay.” She smiled slightly.

                Raph’s impulses took over and he leaned up on the bed. A hand cupped the side of her face as he brought their lips together in a desperate kiss. It surprised the woman lying in the bed but she kissed him in return after a moment. When he pulled away, both of their faces were red. “I’m sorry I…”          

                “Don’t…” Jack’s hand found his and gave a small squeeze. “So, what happened exactly?” She asked to get his mind off his embarrassment. “The last thing I remember was looking for you.”

                Raph clung to her hand as he leaned back in his chair. “That was about a week ago.”

                “A week?” Her brow furrowed and Raph watched the green skin around her brow wrinkle slightly.

                “Yeah…” He rubbed the back of his head and pulled off his mask. Rubbing his temples he reclaimed her hand. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. You went looking for me and I wasn’t there to protect you. You went to Xanus and found Leo and Ant…”  

                “That’s right.” She started to remember. “They were in these little cells”

                Raphael nodded. “They told us all about it. How they filled with some kind of fog and you did something to open the doors. What they don’t know is what happened to Leo to make him revert back to a normal pet turtle. Or to make him go back.”

                “It’s the patterns my brother taught me.” She told him. “The first thing I typed in opened Ant’s door but not Leo’s… he had messed with wires inside his cell… By the time I got his door open he had been changed back. It’s the mutagen. They figured out how to undo it. They don’t know I know how to re do it. I remembered the other patterns….”

                “Ant said he had to type something in.”

                Jack nodded. “I went inside Leo’s cell and had to fix the wires. The door closed and we were both stuck inside. He’s okay right? Back to normal?”

                “For the most part.” He looked away from her.

                She didn’t like that and squeezed his hand. “What do you mean for the most part?”

                He shook his head. “We can talk about it later. For now you need to focus on getting better.” He reached over and moved some hair out of her face. “Can I check your side?” When she nodded he knelt down and pulled the blanket back before lifting up her shirt. As he moved the bandages and checked the injury the woman lying on the bed kept talking.

                “Why is it I always end up in bed for weeks. I’m so pathetic.” She put her hand on her face and froze.

                “You aren’t-”

                “What’s on my face?” She asked abruptly, cutting him off.

                Raphael hesitated as he let her bandage go and looked up at the shocked expression she wore.

                “Raph?” Her eyes found his, her two colored eyes. “Raph, answer me.”

                He sighed. “Something happened while you and Leo were in that cell together. When he was changing back something… happened to the two of you.”

                She frowned and tried to sit up. Raphael helped her, keeping most of her weight off her sore arm and helping to not strain her side. “What exactly happened us?” She asked him more forcefully.

                Hanging his head Raphael took her hands again. “We don’t know exactly, what we do know is that you now have one of Leo’s eyes and skin like ours on your face. Leo has one of your eyes… and hands like yours.”

                “What?” She seemed in shock.

                Raphael got to his feet and went to the wall where a small mirror was hanging. He spied his own reflection, he looked like hell. Not having slept for nearly the entire week would do that. Pulling the mirror down, he brought it over to the woman on the bed. Holding it up for Jack he watched as she slowly reached up and touched her face, prodding the green skin that haloed her blue eye. Then she looked down at her hands and flexed them, thinking of Leo.

                “Is this permanent?” She asked quietly.

                “We don’t know.” Raph set the mirror aside and looked at her. “Donnie is in bad shape. He has only been able to work on occasion. I’m not entirely sure what he has found out.”

                Her eyes looked up at him filled with fear. “What’s this going to do to me? To…” She swallowed hard. “Are you…” Her lip started to tremble. “Do you think…”

                Raphael stared at her a bit confused for a moment. Then he realized she was scared of what he was going to think. “Jacquelyn… don’t.” He moved to sit on the edge of the bed. He put a large hand on the side of her face and turned her to look at him. “How could you ever think that something as small as this would make me think any differently about you?” He kissed the side of her head. He wanted to pull her into his arms but with her injuries he didn’t want to hurt her further. “You have a few new additions, but that doesn’t mean they are bad. Just different. We can figure it all out together.”

                Leaning into him she nodded and tried to wrap her mind around it all. “I guess I won’t be able to go shopping with April any more… or go to work.”

                Raphael hadn’t thought about that. But she was right, with reptilian skin on her face she wouldn’t be able to go wondering the streets of the city during the day. She didn’t really need to focus on that now though, they could worry about that later. “Why don’t I help you to the bathroom, you can get a bath and clean up a bit. I’ll make you some dinner while you are in there.” He looked down at her. “How’s that sound?”

                “That sounds good.” She smiled slightly as she pulled back the blanket.

                “Good. But if you even think of doing any training any time soon I’m going to lock you in your room.” He threatened with a smirk, trying to lighten her mood.

                She looked up at him. “Lock yourself in with me and I might not complain about that.”

                He stumbled a bit and stared at her, heat converging on his face and turning it red. Jack giggled and looked at him as she held on to his arm and slowly got to her feet. The turtle simply cleared his throat and tried to not dwell on the thought. The walk across their home was slow, but the woman insisted on doing it herself, only using Raph as support. The brothers had managed to clean up the place, they fixed the front door, acquired some new furniture and gotten rid of the stains on the floor. It was practically back to normal.

                Once at the bathroom, Raph hunched down and plugged up the tub to let it fill with hot water for the woman standing beside him. He found her a clean towel and set it beside her on the sink. “If you need help getting out…” His face turned red at the thought of the situation. “Just yell. I’ll be right in the kitchen. You don’t need to stress your side or anything.”

                “Okay I will.”

                Excusing himself Raphael returned to her room and found her something clean to wear. Once he set the clean clothes on a chair outside the bathroom he made his way to the kitchen.

                “What’s with all the pacing Raph?” Mikey asked without looking over the back of the sofa.

                “Jack is up.” He said simply as he turned to the fridge.

                That got the younger turtle to pause his game. He turned around and looked at his brother. “She’s awake?” He asked excitedly, then paused. “This seems all too familiar… and not in a good way.”

                “Tell me about it.” Raph had no idea what to make her, they didn’t have much, no one had bothered to ask the Jones’ to get them more groceries in the past week. “How’s Donnie doing?”

                Mikey shrugged. “I think Ant went in there just a few minutes ago to make sure he had taken his pills so Don’s probably awake.”

                “Can you order us some pizza Mike?” Raph turned from the empty cupboards. “I wanted to talk to Don really quick before Jack gets out of the bath.”

                The one wearing orange nodded and picked up the phone as his brother walked toward Donatello’s room. He knocked gently and then let himself in. He paused briefly once inside but then shook his head with a smirk, he should have been surprised by the sight that greeted him. Donnie had someone help him move nearly half his computer screens and table tops to surround his bed. He was propped up against the wall with stands and tables surrounding him for easy access.

                “I see you never change.” He commented.

                Donnie and Ant looked up.

                “Like you ever have.” Donnie retorted. “It’s good you have finally left Jack’s room, or so I’ve heard, I have found some interesting things.”

                Raph was thoroughly intrigued now. “What’s that?”

                “Well I was hoping Leo would be here as well but, he’s been in thorough meditation… he doesn’t like the fact that Mona was somehow involved. I’m not sure he believes she had a part in all of it.”

                That made an angry knot twist in Raphael’s gut. Mona started the damn thing, Leo had to come to terms with that.

                “Anyway, come here.” Donnie motioned him over. “I’ve been running some tests on the blood samples we took from Jack and Leo when they got back from Xanus. And I’ve been comparing them to old samples from both of them as well.”

                “Okay…” Raphael didn’t know what that meant.

                “Their DNA has been changed.” Donnie glanced at his brothers. “Leo has a high concentration of human genes mixed in with his reptilian genes. Hence the obvious physical changes. Jacquelyn also has reptilian DNA fused in with her own.”

                “That’s why she’s got the green skin…” Raph mused out loud.

                He nodded. “The key part is that they seemed to have swapped different gene structures. Leo and Jack literally swapped genes or shared them.”

                Ant looked at Raph. “She doesn’t just have Reptile genes, she had turtle genes. Jack is even more like us now.” He grinned.

                Raph frowned. “Is it permanent?”

                The smile faded from Ant’s face as he looked back to Donnie.

                “Well, if Jack knows the codes, she could probably undo a normal retromutagen mutation. But since the two of them are cross mutated at such odd levels, I’m not sure I’d be safe to try. They could end up being mutated together more. I’m not sure anyone would want that. Or something even worse could happen.”

                “Right.” Raph rubbed the back of his head. “So Jack is going to be stuck down here in the sewer with us for the rest of her life.” He looked at his brother.

                Donatello frowned at that thought dawned on him. “Yeah... Yeah I guess so.”

                “That’s not the life I wanted for her.” Raph turned around and headed back to check on the status of the pizza and Jack.


	27. Chapter 27

                Jack scratched her head as she walked into Donatello’s room. “Good morning.” She smiled.

                “More like good afternoon.” The brainiac looked up from his notebook briefly. “You sure slept well.”

                The woman shrugged. “I don’t think Raphael slept well, he was tossing and turning last night, kept me up too.”

                Donnie nodded. “I can see that.”

                “Where are the other guys at anyway?”

                They went out to get some things and maybe gather some information.”

                Jack looked over at the clock. It was just a little after five. “At this hour?”

                “You forget that it’s the middle of February. It’s dark already at this time of day.” Donnie said without looking up.

                “Right…” Jack walked over to him. “So I have felt rather useless the past few weeks. Not doing any training, not doing anything. Is there something I can help you with?”  

                “Actually, there is.” Donatello motioned to the space on his bed beside him. “I have some schematics drawn up that you might be able to help me start on.”

                “Schematics for what?” She sat down beside him.

                “A new leg.” He grinned to himself.

                Jack’s eyes got wide. “A what?”

                “A new leg! You can’t expect me to just sit in my bed for the rest of my life.” He rolled out the papers on the table that was closest.

                “Holy crap Don… this is intense.” She picked up the papers and looked at the diagrams and notes.

                The turtle nodded. “Well, since my anatomy is different from a humans, a normal prosthetic won’t work. Besides, I do want to get back to normal at some point, I want something functional.”

                “I get that Donnie, but this looks like something from _The Terminator_.” She tried to grasp his design.

                “Not exactly. It is just a more solidly based structure. As giant mutant turtles, we weigh substantially more than humans do. A simple plastic and metal rod prosthetic won’t work for me. It needs to be solid. But I also want it to function and respond to what is left of my leg’s muscle tissue.”

                “So you are building a robotic leg.” She cocked an eyebrow as she looked at him

                “…maybe.” He said coyly.

                “Well, what can I do to help?” She tucked her hair behind her ear giving Donatello a glimpse of some green skin along her hairline at the base of her neck that they had previously missed. He didn’t say anything about it though.

                The next few hours the turtle gave his friend directions on what tools to bring him and materials to gather from around his room. Jack helped him hold things together while he welded and soldered metal and wires into place. It was late into the night and the thing on the table before them was finally starting to take shape when something crashed into the living room.

                “What does she have to do for you to believe she was involved in all this?” It was Raphael.

                “I don’t know Raph, but I just can’t believe Mona had a part in this.” Leo.

                Jack pulled off her protective eyewear and looked at Donatello with a frown.

                “This isn’t good.” The bed ridden turtle mumbled as he set his tools aside.

                “Pull your head out of your ass Fearless!” Raphael nearly shouted. “She’s the one that did this to you! She is the one that is helping Xanus work with the mutagen!”

                By now Jack had pulled open Donatello’s bedroom door and could see the other four turtles in the open expanse of the house. They looked beat, whatever they had been doing outside had taken a toll, energy wise anyway. Mikey was collapsed on the sofa, Ant at the dining room table and Leo and Raph were just standing there going at it.

                “Will you stop calling me that! And she didn’t do this to me! It was an accident!” Leo looked down at his hands, he was still trying to get used to them.

                “But it’s her fault!” Raphael grabbed at his head in frustration. “Don’t you understand that? She led them here, she figured it out and she helped them! She is the one that is responsible for mutating you and my girlfriend!”

                “So I’m your girlfriend now?”

                The entire room froze. Slowly Raphael turned around, his dark green face somehow almost glowing red as his eyes landed on Jack. His mouth fell open as he tried to find some kind of explanation for his words. “Well I… I um… I…” He took a step towards her. “You…”

                She walked out towards him. It had been something she had been wondering from the moment he had first kissed her and she wanted an answer, but it was more of an opportunity to break the tension and give Leo a chance to get away.

                “I what?” She stood before him, her bright eyes looking up at his scarred face waiting for an answer.

                Leo silently slipped away to his room, but the other two brothers were eagerly awaiting the answer the one in Red would give. Mikey inched up over the back of the sofa to make sure he’d hear everything, Ant just sat perfectly still afraid if he’d move he might scare Raph.

                “You um… Uh…”

                Jack put on a dramatic frown as she looked at his flustered face. It might have been a little mean to put him on the spot like this, she knew, but he had started it. “Did some other girl get mutated I don’t know about? Were you talking about her?”

                “No of course not!” He said in a rush, almost offended.

                “So you were talking about me?”

                “Yeah of course…”

                “When you said girlfriend?” She raised a brow.

                He swallowed hard. “um… yeah…” The word was almost inaudible.

                For a moment a real fear almost filled her. “You don’t seem like that’s something you want.” She said, suddenly not as cocky as she had been a mere moment ago.

                Raph reached down and took her small hands in his. “Of course it is.” He said quietly, looking down for a moment before he looked up at her eyes. “It’s just that you are human, mostly, and I’m a giant turtle… I didn’t know If that is what _you’d_ want.”

                She pulled a hand from him and smacked him in the chest. “You idiot. When I said I loved you that meant all of you, including the turtle and the mutant parts. Why wouldn’t I want to be something more with you?” She placed a hand on his cheek and gently stroked his smooth skin with her thumb.         

                Without a word, the turtle leaned down in a quick motion and connected their lips in a hard kiss. It would have been a nice romantic moment had Michelangelo not started his whistling from across the room.

                With a red face, Raphael threw his sai at his brother, the weapon lodging into the couch just below his brothers hand.

                Mikey grinned nervously. “Heh… well, at least you two are official now and I’m not lying when I tell Casey she’s your girlfriend.”

                The color on Raph’s face darkened. “Shut up Mike.”

                Jack simply laughed to herself as she watched them bicker. Letting go of Raphael’s hand she turned to the kitchen to make them all something to eat. It was late, true, but she was sure they could all use something to eat. While Mikey and Raph continued to pester one another Ant got to his feet to assist her.

                “Was it really that important to have him call you his girlfriend?” Ant asked as he started to peel some potatoes.

                Jack sighed. “I don’t know… it was probably really selfish of me actually.” She admitted.

                “Why do you say that?”

                “Well we have both openly admitted our feelings, but neither of us have really done anything to act upon them. I just wanted to make sure I knew where I really stood I guess. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t thinking too much into everything. Being with you guys in great, I love all you but I don’t want to read into anything I’m not supposed to so… does that make any sense?”

                Ant nodded slowly. “You want to make sure you and him are on the same page as far as feelings and stuff go.” He looked at her. “But trust me, you have nothing to worry about. You might not see it, but we all do. Raph is head over feet for you. He’d do anything for you.”

                She smiled, her features flushing slightly. Ant’s words set her at ease somewhat. Going back to her cooking she elbowed the tall and lanky turtle beside her. He nudged her back playfully.

                “So what were you guys doing anyway?”

                Ant sighed. “Trying to track down Mona Lisa and the retromutagen.”

                “Did you guys have any luck?”

                He shook his head then stopped suddenly. “Not with her. But we did come across something unusual.”

                She set the cooked meat on a plate and slid it aside to start cooking the potatoes Antonello had peeled. “And what would that be?”

                “Mikey called them Foot ninjas. But Raph and Leo said they looked different, like something they saw in Georgia.”

                The woman froze. “I beg your pardon?”

                “What?” Ant set his knife down. “We ran into a few of these dude dressed in all black with these weird symbols on their chests.”

                Jack’s heart started to pound in her chest. The sound of her own heart filled her ears as she started ahead at the kitchen wall. It was the men that had killed her brother, the ones that had attacked her, the ones working for Xanus, they had finally found their way here.

 

                “Jacquelyn?” Raphael stepped up behind her but she didn’t respond.

                Ant looked at him and just shrugged his shoulders.

                Raphael reached around her and pulled the woman against his chest. “Jack? Are you okay?” He asked as he looked down at her.

                She jumped a bit and looked up  at Raphael. “Oh! Raph…” She turned in his arms and leaned against him. “Sorry I was just thinking…”

                “Is everything okay?”

                She nodded.

                The turtle frowned but didn’t say anything just then. Instead he turned her to the table and offered her a seat. Finishing preparing dinner, he plated up everything and called for Mikey. The four of them sat around the table and ate, mostly. Jack just picked at her food, something obviously upsetting her. After a while she got to her feet and set her plate aside.

                “I’m going to take a plate to Donnie.” She said.

                The boys at the table watched her gather up the food and then disappear into the other room. Raphael looked at the youngest turtle. “What’d you say to her?” He asked a bit harshly.

                “Nothing!” Ant said defensively. “She asked about what we did tonight so I told her about the ninja dudes we fought.”

                Raph grumbled to himself and got to his feet. After ditching his plate in the sink he met Jacquelyn as she exited Donatello’s room. Without a word he took her hand and gently led her down the hall towards his bedroom.

                “Raph?” She asked a bit confused as he shut the door behind her.

               

                He turned around to face her. “Don’t worry. I won’t…” He had made that promise before and failed. Closing his eye he wrapped his arms around her. “I’ll do my best to protect you.” Having to admit he failed hurt, but he knew that he had, more than once.

                “I know you will.” The woman mumbled as she wrapped her arms around him as best she could.

                The turtle pulled away just enough so he could lean down and connect their lips. It was a soft kiss at first, but when the woman pressed into him, egging him on, Raphael could feel himself becoming more hungry and desperate for her. His grip on her tightened as an arm pulled her closer, one hand sliding up into her hair to hold her head to his own.

                Then she broke the kiss and gasped, wincing a bit as her hand went to her side. Raphael’s eye snapped open and he looked down as he panted for breath.

                “I’m sorry!” He blurted out, wrenching his hand away from her injury.

                She smiled softly, her flushed face looking up at him. “Don’t be.” She gave him a soft peck on the lips. “I’m just not quite one hundred percent yet.”

                Closing his eyes he gently set his forehead against hers.

                The woman smiled. “Soon enough you won’t have to stop.”

                He pulled away slightly and looked at her. Face still red, he smirked but couldn’t quite get his eyes to meet hers. He couldn’t believe she was implying such things. Was that… was that kind of thing even possible between them? Of course his mind had gone there but actually doing that sort of thing was completely different…. He had never…

                The turtle shook his head and cleared his throat. “Why don’t we get some sleep.” He said quietly. “It’s been a long night.” In one gentle motion, he scooped her up and carried her to his hammock. After climbing in, he pulled the woman onto his chest. Kissing the top of her head he covered them with a blanket and closed his eye.

                “Sweet dreams Raphael.” She mumbled as she kissed his neck, snuggling into his side.

                Raph smiled and used his foot to gently rock them as he pushed against the wall.

 

                “Raph! What are you doing!?” Mikey hissed as he followed his brother through the shadows.

                “I’m going to prove to Leo that his fiancé is behind all this.”

                Mikey grabbed his brother’s arm. “Raph you have to stop this! We haven’t heard from Mona in months! Not since she helped the Foot and the Dragons break into our home.”

                “Mikey is right, Raph, you are in no shape to do this! You need to get home.” Ant got in front of their brother and tried to stop him. “Alopex cracked your shell when she threw you off that building. You need to have it looked at.”

                “That bitch isn’t going to stop me.” The turtle snarled.

                “Why is this so important to you?” Mikey asked him, exasperated. “Why are you so desperate to find Mona?”

                Raph stopped and turned to face his brother. “Because she is trying to destroy us. Mona Lisa is trying to turn us back into nothing and I will not go back to being someone’s pet. Not after everything we’ve done! Not after everything we have accomplished!” His eye fluttered and he dropped to a knee.

                “Oh shit! Mikey his shell! He’s bleeding bad from this crack! We have to get him back home!” Ant grabbed one of his bloody arms and slung it around his neck.

                Mikey grabbed the other and did the same. “Jack is going to be pissed when we get home.” He mumbled under his breath.

                Dragging their muscle bound brother home was a slow trip but they made it without further incident. Once inside, Ant shut the front door while Mikey took Raph to Donatello’s room to get patched up.

                Jack was coming out of the training room, she was finally feeling better, her side had healed completely no residual pain just an ugly scar that trailed up the length of her torso. Her shoulder was the only thing she had to take it easy one. Wiping some sweat off her neck with a towel as she walked out to the living room, the smile fell from her lips as she saw the trio splattered with blood and limping towards Donnie’s room.

                “What did you do?” She asked a mix of horror and anger filled her voice as she followed them into the room.


	28. Chapter 28

                Mikey laid Raphael face down on Donatello’s exam table. “Donnie!” He yelled as Ant and Jack hurried in after him and came to the side of the table. Raph was barely conscious by now, his one good eye struggling to focus as he tried to push himself up off the table. “Raph stay down!” Mikey pushed him back down.

                On crutches, Donatello, made his way swiftly over to the table. “What the hell happened?” He demanded. His attempts to make a functioning prosthetic had failed thus far. He had gotten close, but nothing to his high standards just yet. At least he was mobile on crutches, and for that he was thankful.

                “He got into a fight with Alopex. They were on a roof and she threw him off.”

                “She what?”

                Everyone looked at Jack.

                “Are you telling me that that fox threw Raphael off of a building?”  She asked them.

                Mikey nodded.

                Shaking his head, Donatello leaned against the side of the table. “Someone call Arionna, I’m going to need her help with this.” He frowned.

                Ant went to the wall where there was an old payphone still hooked up. He deposited a few coins which instantly rolled out the return in the bottom, and punched in a few numbers. While it rang Jack turned on Michelangelo.

                “Now, explain to me why you all felt the urge to go start a fight with the fox?” She demanded an answer.

                “ _We_ didn’t.” Mikey gestured to himself and Antonello. “Raph is hell bent on getting answers for what Mona did. Leo is still in denial and-”

                Raph groaned on the table as Donatello was trying to pull his shell closed. Jack’s brow drew together with concern as she moved around to the head of the table. She took Raph’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’re such an idiot.” She whispered, trying to not sound upset, but she couldn’t fight the knot twisting in her stomach. It was the first time she had been on this side of things, normally she was the one that was hurt. Now she didn’t know what to do.

                The woman brushed a sweaty lock of hair out of her face as she took a shaky breath.

                “Don’t worry he’ll be fine. He’s cracked his shell before.” Mikey tried to comfort her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

                Donatello frowned. “True… but it’s never been this bad before.” He added a bit quieter. “This is deep, penetrating… not just the first few layers of keratin on top, he actually cracked the carapace.”

                “But isn’t it part of your sp-”

                “Our spine? Yes.” Donatello cut Jack off. He was clearly worried as he hobbled around his room. Grabbing a bottle from a table he threw it to Mikey. “Get him to swallow four of those.”

                Mikey dumped the pills into his palm and came to the head of the table. He gently smacked his brother’s face until the turtle was at least semi-conscious. “Take these.”

                “Fuck you.” He mumbled.           

                Mikey looked to Jack for help.

                The woman took the pills from the turtle and held them out to Raph. “Take them Raphael. They will help.”

                “I don’t… need…”

                “Take them before I force them down your throat.” She threatened, but her voice was shaking, more scared than really angry.

                His eye found hers. Slowly his hand fumbled for the pills and shoved them in his mouth. He swallowed them down without a word.

                “Thank you.”

                That’s when the door burst open. Reddish curls came rushing into the room. “I got here as fast as I could! Ant said it was an emergency?” She froze. “Shit…”

                Donnie nodded. “Yeah it’s pretty bad.”

                Arionna gave Jack a weak smile as she moved around to her side. “Hey.” They hugged briefly before she turned to Donnie. “Okay, fill me in.”

                The turtle looked at the others. “Everyone else, out. You will just get in the way.” He saw the horrified look on Jack’s face. “I’m sorry Jack but we need space.”

                The small woman leaned down and kissed the top of Raph’s head before she followed the other turtle’s out of the room.

                “Okay now… shells are slightly flexible…” Donatello’s voice faded behind the closed bedroom door.

 

                Jack stood there on the other side of the door, staring at the wooden structure for what seemed like an eternity. Antonello walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, his eyes spying the green skin along her hair line with her hair pulled up into a high pony tail. Her eyes didn’t move from the door as her hand reached up and grabbed hold of his.

                “I’m scared Ant.” She said quietly.

                “I know.” He put his arm in front of her and forced her to turn away from the door. “But standing here staring isn’t going to do anything.” He pulled her towards the dining room table.

                Mikey had disappeared somewhere, leaving the pair alone. Ant reached up on a shelf and pulled down Master Splinter’s tea set. After setting some water on to heat up he prepared some tea for the two of them, hoping it would soothe the woman’s nerves.

                “Raph will be fine.”

                “How do you know that?!” She bolted to her feet. “He essentially broke his back!”

                Ant once again placed his hands on her shoulders and eased her to a seat at the table. “But we are turtles, our shells might be connected to our spines but they are… different.” He looked away, he wasn’t too sure how to explain what he meant. He wasn’t really sure he knew what he was talking about.

                There was a loud crash coming from down the hall. “What do you think I’ve been doing Mikey?!” It was Leo, slamming open doors and storming towards the kitchen.

                “We can’t stay here Leo!” Mikey was trailing after him. “The foot have found us once, what makes you think they won’t come back again?”

                “You think I don’t know that?” He turned on his brother. “While you and everyone else have been gallivanting around the sewers I have been looking for a new place. But we have one problem, we can’t go anywhere until Don is mobile.”

                “So you found a place?” Mikey asked him.

                “Well not yet…” He said, somewhat defeated. “But even if I do, we still have to deal with that.”

                “You can’t tell Mona.” Ant said suddenly.

                Leo glared at him. “And why can’t I?”

                “Because she is the one that led the foot to us, if you tell her where our new house is they are just going to find us again!” he was starting to get as frustrated at Raphael.

                Shaking his head Leo turned to head towards his room. “Mona had nothing to do with that. She swears it!”

                “Then why is Raphael on a table in the other room with a crack in his shell?!” Jack demanded.

                Leo looked at her, their matching eyes locking. He blinked a few times , his defiance leaving as his gaze shifting to Donatello’s room. “He what?” He asked in barely a whisper.

                “He’s bleeding from a giant crack in the middle of his shell Leo, because he was trying to find her.” Mikey told him. “It’s bad, not like the other times he’s cracked it.”

                There was a scream from Donatello’s room.

                “Raph!” Jack made to run towards the door but Ant grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

                “You don’t want to go in there.” He said quietly as Raph screamed again. “It isn’t going to be pretty.” He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her back against his chest to keep her from doing something stupid. The turtle could feel her trembling against him before she reached up and grabbed his hand to cling to.

                It was late and eventually the woman took up a seat at the table just staring at Donatello’s door while the other’s talked a little bit away.

                “So what are we going to do Leo?” Mikey asked him. “We can’t stay here. You know that.”

                The turtle grunted and ran his hands over his face. “We will have to find a new place and start moving what we can. We can rebuild most of our stuff, find new supplies and whatnot, I just don’t want to leave too much of Donnie’s tech behind. If we have time and the means… we can get the extra stuff. If not it stays.”

                The other two turtles nodded.

                “First though we have to find a place.” Leo looked at the wall. “It’s almost morning. We can look tomorrow. Make sure you both are well rested and brush up on some exercises. I’ll ask Don if he has any ideas on where a good location to look would be.”

                Leo turned to leave but Ant reached out and stopped him. “What about Raph and Mona?”

                He grit his teeth. “I won’t tell her until you guys are satisfied she has nothing to do with any of this. Raph won’t be able to help for a few days.” Yanking his arm from his brother, Leo walked back to his room.

                Ant sighed and scratched his head as he looked at his other brother. They both looked over at Jack, she was passed out at the table , stressed beyond belief and they couldn’t blame her. Their attention was stolen when Donnie’s door opened up and Arionna stepped out. She smiled weakly at the turtles.

                “How is he?” Mikey ran up to her.

                “He’ll be fine, once he heals.” She looked at him. “The crack on his carapace is rather deep so we couldn’t seal it and bind it close like Donnie wanted to. We could only treat and sterilize his wound. I wanted to make sure that none of his vital organs or systems had been damaged, which they weren’t. So he just needs to keep it clean for a few days, let Donnie change the bandage and then in a week he can epoxy the fiberglass strips over the crack so it can heal shut.”

                Mikey heaved a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good I guess.”

                “He really shouldn’t sleep on that hard table though.” Arionna told him. “But Donnie said something about him having a hammock? He shouldn’t sleep there either because of the pressure on his back. He should stay on his stomach.”

                Mikey looked at Ant, then at the sleeping Jack. “Help me carry him to Jack’s room.” He told his brother.

                Arionna looked at Jack. “Tell her I said goodbye. Hopefully next time I’m over it’ll be on better terms.” She gave them a small wave and excused herself.

                After grabbing Raphael’s hulking frame from the table, the pair carried his unconscious form into Jack’s room and laid him out on her small bed. Mikey looked down at his brother and started to pull the weapons off his belt and try and make him more comfortable. “You can head to bed Ant. I got this.”

                The other nodded and left the room.

                Mikey set the sai on Jack’s dresser before he turned back to his brother. Pulling off the red mask he laid that on top of the weapons and then he stared down at his brother’s face. The younger turtle hesitated before he grabbed the strap of his brother’s eye patch and gently pulled it off. There was a small dented line that circled Raphael’s head from the strap because he never took the thing off. Setting the patch down with the rest of Raphael’s belongings, Mikey hunched down in front of his brother’s face. One eye was closed, the other was a mess of old scars where Donatello had sewn his eye shut after removing what was left of the damaged eye ball Shredder had destroyed. It had healed a long time ago, but Raph had never liked the thought of just showing it so he always kept it covered. He glanced at Raph’s shell. There was a long strip of gauze down the center of his back, medical tape holding it in the crack that had been broken open.

                “You are such a moron.” He mumbled. Getting to his feet he walked back to the kitchen where Jack was still asleep at the table. The turtle placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake.

                Rubbing at her eyes she looked up at him. “Huh?” She mumbled. “What is it?”

                Mikey motioned towards her room. “Donnie did what he could, he’ll be fine. We put him in your room to rest. He’s got to stay on his stomach for a while.”

                “Thanks.” She got to her feet and started towards her room.

                “Hey Jack?”

                “Yeah?” She stopped and looked at him.

                “Raph is going to be okay.”

                She gave him a small smile and them turned back to her room. It was dark when she walked in. After letting her eyes adjust she walked over to the bed where Raph was taking up nearly the whole thing. Carefully she crawled up onto the small space beside his shoulder and head and sat down. She leaned over and kissed the back of his head, a few tears leaking from the corners of her eyes onto his smooth skin.

                The woman curled up as tightly as she could between the wall and raph in the small space left on the corner of the bed. Most of her legs hung off the bed but she refused to move as she drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep.

 

                Raphael groaned as he opened his eye. His grip on something soft opened and he looked over to see he was holding to Jack’s legs. “What the…” He went to push himself up and felt a sharp pain in his back. Biting back a curse he moved a bit more carefully and looked around. He found his girlfriend lying in a tight ball near his head, her legs under his arm. He was the only thing keeping her on the bed since he had been taking up so much more room than necessary.

                Slowly sitting up fully Raph gently pulled the woman towards him. “Jacquelyn.” He mumbled. “That can’t be comfortable.”   

                The woman mumbled in her sleep as the turtle pulled her body towards him.

                He winced as she fought him but he pulled her further onto the bed. “Jack…” He laid back down more on one side of the bed this time and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her to his side.

                She snuggled into him, her small hands clinging to his arm. “You’re an idiot.”

                His body stiffened for a brief second before he relaxed and kissed the side of her head. “But I’m your idiot.”

                “I’m serious.” She opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Do you know how scared I was?!” More tears were filling her eyes.

                His hand slid up her side and found her cheek. “No… but probably like I was all the times you were hurt.” He smirked. “I guess we are even now.”

                She smacked him.

                “Ow. Remember I’m hurt… you have to be nice to me.” He smirked a bit.

                “Yeah right.”

                He turned just slightly so he could lean over and kiss her briefly. “I’m sorry I worried you.” He said a little more seriously.

                But the woman was focused on something else. Her small hand was on his cheek, Her thumb running across his skin, feeling the scar that cut across his face that took his eye. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without your eye patch.”

                He recoiled slightly, his hand reaching up and touching his face. “What the hell?” He looked around almost panicked. “Where did it…”

                “Raph…”

                He tried to sit up, still looking around.

                “Raph lay back down.”

                “I need my eye patch.”

                “No…” She pulled on his arm and urged him to lay back down. “No you don’t.”

                He looked away from her as he obeyed and laid down.

                “Raphael…” She put her hand on the back of his head and waited for him to turn his head and look at her. “Why are you so insistent on getting your patch back on?” Her gaze drifted from the scar of his missing eye to the warm color or the one keeping her gaze.

                He sighed. “I’m already a monster, the pile of scars on my face just make me look even more like one. I’m scary as hell. I just… I don’t want to scare you.”

                She sighed and scooted a bit closer to him. Delicate fingers gently traced the side of his face before finding the scar that cut across his face. Her fingers gently crossed the divot where his eye should have been, cautiously touching the scarred skin. She could feel him tensing under her touch but he didn’t stop her. Pulling her hand back down his cheek she leaned up and kissed the scar, just below his eye socket.

                “You have never scared my Raphael. You are no monster. I don’t know what I have to do to show you that I accept all of you.” She smiled softly and kissed him.

                “I’m sorry I’m just so paranoid.” His grip on her tightened and he found her lips once more.

                She smiled. “Well don’t be. Now go back to sleep. You need to rest.”


	29. Chapter 29

                “Hurry up Donnie.” Raph complained.

                The other turtle just rolled his eyes as he placed the fiberglass patches over the crack on Raphael’s shell. “These will help keep it covered and keep the scutes in alignment while they heal properly.”

                “Good. I’m tired of sitting still, I’m ready to get moving again.” Raph started bouncing on his feet until his brother stilled him.

                “If you take another hard blow to the shell right now, I’m not sure how much more damage your back can handle. Your shell needs to heal.”

                Raph moved his hands in a mocking fashion. “Yeah yeah… nothin’ stupid. We are just looking for a new home. No fightin’. Can I go now?” He grumbled.

                Donnie lifted his hands signaling he was done.

                Raph left his brother’s room and walked out into the living room. He had been with Donatello for a few hours, the stupid shell patches took forever to harden and set on his shell. “Jack?” He called out. There was no one else home, the others were already out looking for a new place to live.

                He walked down the hall to the training room. When he walked in he stopped in the doorway and just smiled. Folding his arms across his chest he watched as Jack did her workout. Currently she was hanging from bar on the ceiling, doing pull ups. Raph couldn’t keep himself from staring for a moment. He watched her muscles move and flex. He followed a few drops of sweat as they dripped down the smooth contours of her body. Shaking his head he finally cleared his throat.

                Jack lowered herself and looked behind her. “Raph!” She dropped to the ground and came over to him. “How’s your shell?”

                “Perfect.”

                She wrinkled her nose at him. “Sure it is. So what’s the plan for the rest of the day?”

                Raph pushed a sweaty strand of hair off her face. “Get some real clothes on. We are going out to try and scout out a new home.”

                Smiling, Jack walked past him and headed to her room. The turtle followed her, all his things were still in her room after all. He had been sleeping in her bed for the past week since he cracked his shell. He still wasn’t a fan of mattress’s but he had to admit his shell did ache a little when he laid on it.

                He watched Jack pull a dark tee shirt out of her dresser and pull it on over her sports bra. She left the tight athletic pants and sneakers on. As she readjusted her pony tail she made her way to the night stand where Raph’s mask and weapons were.

                Smiling she grabbed them and handed them to the turtle behind her. As Raphael tied the mask in place, Jack grabbed something from the drawer. Pulling his hands away from his face, Raph paused when he looked down, a grin spreading across his face. “I haven’t actually seen you wear that in a while.” He reached over and brushed the side of the green mask that surrounded her eyes.

                “Felt like a good occasion.” She beamed.

                Nodding the turtle placed his weapons in his belt as Jack strapped hers to her thighs. Once they were both ready they headed out into the sewer.

                For the next few hours they searched different tunnels of the sewers for a place that would be suitable to make them a new home. Everything was either too close to the humans or too... dirty, even as far as sewer standards go.

                Raph grunted in frustration as they walked.

                “Can I ask you for something?” Jack asked suddenly.

                The turtle stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn’t sure the woman had ever done that before, really asked him for anything. He had been the one to offer things and she would accept, but she’d never ask for things. It made him pause and realize how similar they were in that fashion. “Of course.” He said quietly in the dim tunnel. “You can ask for anything whenever you want.”

                She smiled. “Can I get a camera?” there was hesitation before she continued. “Since I can’t work I don’t really have any money any more… and-”

                Raph held up a hand. “I don’t care. You don’t need money. If you want a camera, we can have Donnie order you one when we get back.” He smiled and then his brow furrowed. “What do you want a camera for anyway?”

                “To take pictures.” She smiled. “I’ve lived with you guys for over a year… it’ll be two before you know it. But I don’t have a single picture of you.”

                Raph’s features flushed for a moment. “Oh… well… we haven’t really taken any photos since Splinter died.”

                “You should change that.” She stepped closer to him and took his hand. “I’ve seen that dusty old family photo you guys have shoved on the shelf in the training room… You have a new family now, you should have something to commemorate it. Besides, pictures are fun. I’m sure Mikey and I could get into all sorts of trouble with a camera.”

                Raph rolled his eye. “Yeah, you’ll be lucky if he doesn’t steal it and take a million selfies with his nunchucks.”

                Jack laughed.

                “Let’s head back. It’s late and the guys might have found something.”

 

                When they got back, the others were all gathered around the dining room table, Donnie included. There was a map spread out on the table and a pizza on the counter they all had slices in their hands.

                “There you are!” Mikey cried out with excitement. “We found the perfect place!”

                Raphael crossed the rooms to his brother but Jack paused. As the boys started to talk, she stepped back towards the front door. She could have sworn she heard something. Stepping back out into the sewer, her hands were by her legs, just in case she needed her weapons.

                “You don’t need those.” The voice made her jump.

                Jack pulled a pair of shobo from her thighs on instinct as she whipped around and looked at the woman standing behind her. It was a tall brunette, in a pink dress and sweater with boots up to her knees. “Who are you?” Jack asked.

                “Aww you don’t remember me? I’m hurt…” He feigned sadness before smirking. “The real question is what the hell were you doing holding Raphael’s hand? Do you really think you are going to get anywhere with him?”

                Jack’s brow furrowed. “…Mona Lisa.” It finally clicked. “Why the hell is it any of your business what I do with Raph? Shouldn’t you be more concerned with Leo?”

                The woman scoffed. “That’s not what I’m here for.”

                “Then what do you want?”

                “I want to ask you to come with me.” She looked at Jack and unfolded her arms. “Come with me to the Xanus building.”

                Jack took a step back. “What? Why the hell would I come with you anywhere?”

                “Please!” Mona stepped up to her and took her hands. “Don’t you understand? The codes that you know… they are the missing piece to all my research! They are the perfect combination of chemicals and mutagen to get the proper reactions. Your brother figured it all out!” She was grinning like a lunatic. “You are the only one that knows them know! Don’t you understand, if you come with me, my research can be completed. I’ll have figured out how to activate and deactivate the mutagen. I can transform animals into mutants… but I get transform mutant’s back. I need you for that.”

                “No.” Jack shook her head and pulled her hands from the other woman’s grip. “I won’t help you do something that has the potential to destroy the people I care about.”

                Her eyes got wide with shock. “What?” She asked almost like she was horrified. “You mean… the turtles?” She rolled her eyes. “They shouldn’t even exist you know!”

                Jack’s fist connected with Mona’s face. There was a crack and blood started to gush from the other woman’s nose. “I don’t care who you are… but if I ever hear you say something like that about them again…” Her eyes narrowed.

                The woman squealed as she clutched her face. “You bitch! I was trying to be nice! I could have fixed you! Now… now I’ll just make sure you die with the rest of them.” Turning on her heal she took off down the tunnel.

                Jacquelyn shook out her hand, her knuckles throbbing a little bit.

                “Jack?”

                She looked over at the door way. Raph was stepping out.

                “What are you doing out here all alone? It’s dangerous.”

                The woman frowned. “You have no idea…” She glanced down the tunnel and could just barely make out Mona’s figure climbing up to the surface.

                “Is that… Mona!?” Raphael grabbed Jack and shoved her behind him. “What the hell was she doin’ here?”

                “She was making me an offer.”

                Raph turned around and looked at her. “What? What kind of offer?” He seemed genuinely concerned.

                “She wanted me to go with her. Something about research and the codes my brother knew… I’m not too sure. She was acting like a crazy person really.”

                Raph scratched his head. “This isn’t good.”

                Jack nodded and looked down at her hand. There was blood on it, Mona’s.

                The turtle picked up her hand and looked at it. “Did she hurt you?”

                “No… I broke her nose.” Raph started to smile. “When she threatened all of you.” His smile disappeared. “I know she’s engaged to Leo but… I just think she is using him now. If she felt anything for him, it’s gone.” Her shoulders slumped. “All she wanted was to finish her research.”

                Muttering to himself Raph looked down the tunnel. “I guess we better make the move quick before she goes through with that threat.”

                “What about Leo?” Jack asked as they turned to head back into the house.

                “I… I’ll talk to him.” He wasn’t thrilled with that prospect but someone had to do it.

                Following Raphael into their home Jack glanced over at the table where the others were still talking . “So they found us a new place to live?”  

                Raph snorted. “Maybe. I’m not too thrilled with the prospect but… the others are quite excited.”

                Her head tilted curiously as they headed to the table. “Why don’t you approve?”

                “It’s above ground.” Raph came over and leaned on the table looking down at the map his brothers were crowded around. “I’m still not likin’ this.” He muttered.

                “What’s not to like Raph?” Mikey looked at him.

                “The whole being above ground thing for starters…” He looked at him.

                Donatello piped in. “But think about this, the warehouse is currently up for sale. We have enough money from my job to actually _buy_ it.”

                The one in red folded his arms across his chest. “What would that accomplish?”

                “Well we would have a legitimate address for one. When we order supplies, they could actually be delivered to our home instead of having to send April to get things or deliver them to their apartment. It’d be a lot easier on my tax forms for work too…” He mumbled the last bit.

                Leo piped up. “The place is huge Raph. It must have just been a storage or sorting place because it’s virtually empty now. We’d have so much more room than we could ever find in a sewer. There is even a second story balcony kind of thing. We could turn it into a full-fledged second floor and make a few bedrooms out of it. Then there is tons of space down stairs for other bedrooms a bigger training room and a bigger kitchen and living room. We can even have a real mediation room.”

                Raph was still frowning but he didn’t say anything.

                Jack put her hand on his arm. “Are you willing to at least check the place out?”

                “I guess.”

                “I have to admit, It’d be nice to have some more space in my room… and in the training room…” Ant commented out loud.

                Donatello scratched his chin. “This warehouse is on the other side of the city. It’s in Brooklyn off of 5th avenue along the river.”

                “That seems so far away…” Jack mused aloud.

                “We are going to need April and Casey to help us move some stuff.” Donnie looked over at Jack. “We can get them to put some more gas in your van and we can use that too.” They had moved her van from the tunnels to an alley out of the way where it pretty much just sat unused since the week she moved in with them.

                “I’ll give April a call!” Mikey said excitedly.

                “Wait up Mike.” Donnie looked from Raph to Leo. “So… are we making this an official thing? If so I need to go through proper channels to buy this place.”

                Leo looked at his often angry brother. “Well Raph?”

                “Fine. Get the place. But you and I need to talk. Alone.” He went to walk back to the training room but Jack stopped him.

                Standing on her toes she planted a small kiss on his cheek. “Be nice.” She said softly before letting him go.

                Raphael followed his brother to the training room, where Leo was already standing at the heavy bag, doing a few light punches and kicks.

                “So what are we talking about?” he asked without looking up.

                “Mona Lisa.”

                Leo stopped and grabbed the swinging bag. “We are not talking about her.”      

                “We need to Leo. She is bad news.” Raph came around so his brother was forced to look at him. “She isn’t who you think she is any more. She is going to hurt us… hurt you!”

                “Stop it Raph.” Leo snapped. “She had nothing to do with the attack on us.”

                “But she did!” Raph grunted with frustration. “She was just outside trying to bargain with Jack! She threatened us and now who knows what the hell she is going to do! You know she is nearly as smart as Donnie, she could destroy us Leo!”

                Leo grabbed the front of Raph’s shell and got in his face. “Stop!” His eyes narrowed. “Just… stop!” He closed his eyes and let him go. “She is still my fiancé! Why… why are you trying to take that away from me? Why are you the only one that gets to be happy?”

                Raph blinked and recoiled a bit. “What? Is that what this is about? My happiness?” He shoved his brother’s hand off his chest. “Look I’m sorry you are jealous that I am finally happy for the first time in my life. But this isn’t about me and Jack.”

                “Oh really?!” Leo got back in his face. “You just don’t want anyone else to be happy.”

                Raph shoved his brother into the wall. “You want to go there?! Fine!” He glared. “You think my life is so great? I was the reject son. I was the one that could never do anything right. I lived in your shadow for years! Yeah I was the first to have a girlfriend and I am not talking about Mona. Mona had a crush on me but that was it, she was a friend. Ninjara just wanted someone to help her reach her goals. But I fell for her hard, and then just when I thought she was serious she left. You don’t remember how miserable I was for months. No one does because no one gave a damn about me!” He sighed, trying to reign in his anger. “Jack is the first woman to make me genuinely happy. I can’t remember a time in my life where things seemed to be so right… but it’s not perfect. We have out problems…. I want you guys all to find this. This… this is better than becoming ninja, Leo. You think I’d want to keep you from that?”

                Leo shoved him away. “You are trying to destroy the one good thing I have.”

                “But it’s not good Leo!” Raph grabbed the side of his brother’s face. “Listen to me! You have us, the family! For the first time in years we aren’t at each other’s throats anymore! We have a new brother, you guys have a sister! We are training and becoming better ninja! Think of how proud dad would be. We have a lot of good things going… yeah, shit has happened, a lot of bad shit. But there has been a ton of good as well over this past year.” His hands slid down to his brothers shoulders. “Mona has just been using us. You more than anyone. I know you love her and I know this has to hurt but… you can’t trust her. You have to… you have to let her go. She is working with Xanus and she is trying to help him.”

                Hanging his head their once fearless leader stayed silent.

                “Leo… we need you to be with us. We can’t stand to have you going against us.”

                Suddenly Leo wrapped his arms around his brother. He clung to Raphael like he was the only thing left to hold on to. Raph hugged him back.

                “Don’t go getting all weird on me…” Raph laughed a bit nervously. He was never good at this.

                Leo let him go. “Thanks Raph.” He was quiet, clearly not happy but at least he wasn’t pissed any more. “I’m glad we talked.”

                “Me too.” Raph smacked him on the shell and followed him out of the room to find the others.


	30. Chapter 30

                “Do you really think it’s safe to be doing this now?” Ant asked as he taped closed the box of electronics in front of him.

                Jack sighed. “I… don’t know.” She chewed on her lip. “But I think Leo needs this right now, he needs something kind of monotonous and laborious to keep his mind busy.”

                Ant nodded. “I get that but shouldn’t we be worrying about the foot? This move is making us vulnerable and with us all scattered about, an attack right now would be so easy.”

                The woman chuckled.

                “What’s so funny?”

                She paused and looked up at him. “You sound just like them.”

                “Like who?”

                “Like all of them. You worry like Donnie, you plan and think tactics like Leo, you have a temper like Raph and then you have the energy and quirks of Mikey.” She grinned.

                His features flushed. “Uh… is that a good thing?”

                “It’s a great thing.” Jack turned back to packing things into the box beside her.

                “Do you think Casey and Raph are having any luck with the construction?” Ant changed the topic.

                Jack shrugged. “They have been doing work on the warehouse for almost two weeks now. Donnie wouldn’t have told us to start packing if it wasn’t at least livable. I mean… you are right about one thing, we do need to get out of here. Besides with them taking so long making the place up, it means we can actually pack up just about everything we have.”

                “True.” Ant picked up his box and took it over to the stack by the front door. Donatello’s room was packed up and virtually all already at the warehouse. Some of the large furniture, tables, couches, chairs, beds and training equipment were already at the warehouse so the place seemed pretty empty now as Ant and Jack packed up what was left.

                “So what’s left?” Ant put his hands on his hips and looked around.

                Jack brushed her bangs out of her face. “Well, my room is done, Donnie’s is done… So are Leo’s and Mikey’s. Why don’t you double check your room and then the training room. I’ll check Raph’s room.”

                He nodded and they parted ways. Jack wondered back to Raphael’s room and made her way inside. Like all the other rooms it was pretty much empty. She pulled his trench coat off the hook on the wall and slung it over her arm before picking up his old guitar amp from the corner. What happened to the guitar she could only guess but she had never seen it. She figured it had probably ended up breaking it in one of his fits. Maybe she’d get him a new one as a present one day… Carrying the last few items out to the pile of boxes in the living room she met up with Ant.

                “You got everything?” He asked as he came and took the amp from her.

                She nodded.

                “Good.” He put her in a head lock. The woman squealed in protest and squirmed as his knuckles dug into her head. “Now we wait for a ride to the new place.”

                “You little…!” Jack hit a pressure point in his arm and got him to release her.

                “Ow!” He grinned. “Hey! That wasn’t fair!” He laughed.

                “Oh I’ll show you fair!” Jack launched herself at him, her arms circling his waist as she tried to tackle him.

                Under normal circumstances, they both knew there was no way she’d never be able to take him down. But they all had rough housed enough, the guys always gave her some leeway and conceded to some of her attacks. The turtle let himself get knocked over and pinned to the ground. The pair rolled around and tried out an assortment of different restraints and techniques that they had been taught recently.

                “Having fun?”

                They both froze when there was a camera flash, Ant had Jack pinned face down on the floor.

                “Mikey!” Ant jumped off Jack and then pulled her to her feet. “How’s there warehouse coming?”

                “Good.” He crossed his arms with a smirk as he dropped Jack’s camera into the nearest box. “How’s the packing?”

                “All finished.” Jack smiled.

                The turtle shook his head. “Good. April is waiting up in the alley with the van to take some more boxes over. Once we get these last boxes out of here we can close up shop.”

                “Alright let’s go.” Ant grinned and grabbed a box. He went to pick up another one but his hand couldn’t grip it and it tumbled to the ground. “Shit.” He mumbled as the contents scattered on the floor. Luckily nothing breakable.

                “Don’t worry I got this.” Jack knelt down and started to gather things up.

                Mikey grabbed a pair of boxes and elbowed Ant. Come on, I’ll show you where April is parked.” He said when he saw the sad look on Ant’s face.

                Once the things were secure in the box once more, Jack picked it up and walked out into the sewer. “Guys?” She looked around and started towards the nearest storm drain. Jack stumbled a bit a looked down. Her shoe was untied. Muttering a curse, she walked a bit oddly to avoid stepping on the lace, keeping an eye on her feet as she rounded the corner to the ladder to the surface.

                She smacked right into someone and nearly fell over. But a strong hand on her arm kept her from falling over.

                She looked up. “Oh! Thanks…” The smile faded from her face as she stared up at the orange hairy face of a mutant cat. Her eyes shifted from his eye patch and missing whiskers to his one eye. She swallowed hard. “W-who are you?”

                His grip on her arm tightened to the point of pain. “What’s a human doing…” A clawed finger reached up and moved her hair. His eye widened at the sight of the green skin around her eye. “You aren’t completely human are you?”

                Jack stayed silent.

                “Who are you girl?”

                “You’re hurting me.” She said through gritted teeth.

                The cat smirked and squeezed harder.

                Jack dropped the box as he body cringed. She didn’t have her weapons, they were in a box with the training stuff. How stupid could she have been? But up until now she had never been alone…

                “You’re down here with them aren’t you?”

                “Fuck you. Who the hell are you?” Jack glared at him. So far he had done nothing but make weird conversation and bruise her arm, she didn’t want to start an unneeded fight if she didn’t have to and ruin their move.

                “Hob?!” The sound of Mikey’s horrified voice startled her. “But… you died!”

                The cat let out something that sounded like a mix between a laugh and a yowl. “Apparently not. Does this belong to you?” He jerked Jack around.

                “Let her go!” Ant took a step forward but Mikey held an arm out to block him.

                “Oh what do we have here? Another new one?” 

                The youngest one glared, his fist clenching. “Let her go.”

                The cat adjusted his grip and put an arm around her neck. “ Now what if-”

                Before he could finish, Jack twisted her legs around his and grabbed his arm. She broke the choke hold and flipped herself around him and out of his grip.

                “What the hell?!” The cat hissed in frustration. “You… you’re one of them!?”

                “That’s right…” She rubbed her arm as she slowly backed away from him and went towards her family.

                As soon as she was within reach, Michelangelo grabbed her and put her behind him. “Get out of here Hob… we beat you once…. We can do it again.”

                The cat glared. “We will see about that.” He pounced over to a ladder and scurried up it and out of sight.

                “Care to explain?” Ant asked once he was sure they were all alone.

                Mikey continued to stare at the ladder where the cat mutant had been. It was only a few tense moments later that he finally spoke. “Old Hob was the first mutant we ever fought. First… thing we ever fought really. When we were teenagers, he hunted us down with a gang of street thugs. They later formed the Purple Dragons.” He scratched his head and mumbled something about Raphael.

                Jack put her hand on Mikey’s arm. “Let’s not tell Raph… about him grabbing me anyway.”

                The turtle looked at her. “Good idea.” He put a hand on her back and turned her towards the other tunnel. “Let’s get to the warehouse.” He grabbed the box she dropped and then followed her and Ant to the van up in the alley.

 

Raphael dropped the hammer into the toolbox and fell to a seat at the dining room table beside Casey. He grabbed a bottle of water and took a long drink.

                “So, I think we got everything done.” Casey grinned. “Besides the vanity stuff like paintin’ and decorating.”

                The turtle looked around. Over the past few weeks the pair of them had cleared out the old machinery from the warehouse, erected new walls and constructed rooms for everyone as well as the common rooms. They tapped into the existing plumbing system and set up a bathroom and a half bath. On the walkways upstairs, they established a stable floor and set up rooms enough for two bedrooms. It was just about done.

                “I think we got it all.” Raph leaned back in his seat. He heard giggling coming from the largest bedroom on the opposite side of the warehouse. It was Donatello’s room. They had given him the largest area to accommodate not only his bedroom but also all his lab and computer equipment. A smiling woman with dark curls came waltzing out of his room. She paused, her features flushing when she caught Casey and Raph staring at her.

                Arionna cleared her throat. “Can I help you with something?”

                “Not a thing princess.” Casey smirked.

                Raph kicked him under the table.

                The woman snorted and went to the fridge to grab a drink. With bottle in hand she returned to Donatello’s room and closed the door behind her.

                “I never saw that coming.”

                Raph looked over at Casey and raised a brow.

                “Don and Arionna.” He gestured to the door. “Didn’t really think the girl the cut off his leg would stick around and get all cozy with him.”

                Raph kicked him again. “Let him be happy.” He thought about the conversation with Leo.

                Casey held his hands up, seeing he needed to drop the topic. “So…” He moved onto something else. “What did you and Jack do for Valentine’s day?”

                “What?”

                “You know… Feburary 14th? It was last month. That stupid couple’s holiday…. Did you do anything for it?”

                Raph scratched his head. “I didn’t even realize that had passed.”

                Casey leaned on the table. “Tell me you at least got her something for Christmas when that was around.”           

                The turtle shook his head slowly.

                “Damn it Raph!” Casey ran his hands over his face. “You have to be more considerate of stuff like that.”

                “What for?” Raph looked at him. “The family hasn’t celebrated anything in years.”

                “But Jack is different.” Casey stared hard at him. “She is your girlfriend. She means more to you doesn’t she? You have to show her that. I know gifts seem petty and I’m not saying buy her a bunch of shit, but you have to do something that shows her you care and at least want to show her that.”

                Raph ran a hand over his face. “I’m not good at this…”

                “You’ll get better. It just takes effort.” Casey got to his feet and stretched.

                “I don’t even know when her birthday is and she’s been here for almost two years.” Raph admitted, ashamed.

                That’s when the garage door started to move on the side of the building and illuminate the corner of the warehouse with the evening light. The guys at the table moved across the room as they watched the beat up van pull in and park. Slowly April, Mikey, Ant and Jack all climbed out of the van with a few boxes of things from the sewer.

                Jack smiled as she crossed their new house. She hadn’t been there since the day they officially purchased it and made it theirs. She had yet to see any of the renovations. “Wow! The place looks great! You guys have really out done yourselves.” She stopped in front of Raphael and stood on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.

                As she pulled away the turtle turned his head and kissed her temple. But he caught sight of something strange as his brother’s and April approached the dining area. Taking Jack’s arm he lifted it to get a better look at the dirty hand print on fabric of her shirt. When he touched it, Jack winced and he frowned, scowling a bit.

                “Don’t…” Jack said quietly looking up at him. “We can talk about it later. Let’s just… focus on moving in.” She smiled.

                The turtle didn’t want to but he nodded slowly and looked over at his brothers as they set some boxes on the floor. Casey walked over to his wife and gave her a kiss as the brother all started to plan what they’d do about the last few boxes.

                “I’ll ride over with you guys.” Casey declared. “I’ll help load up the last of the boxes so we don’t have to make any more trips”

                Ant and Mikey nodded.

                “Good. Then Raph and I can start unpacking.” Jack smiled as she picked up one of the nearest boxes and set it on the table.

                “Alright we will be back in a little while!” Mikey hopped back into the van, followed by Ant as Casey and April climbed into the front. The van pulled out of the garage and the door closed behind it leaving Jack and Raph alone.

                Jack turned to the table and started to unpack some of Mikey’s electronics from the box. She didn’t get too far before Raphael stopped her. His hand took hold of hers and pulled her away from the table.

                “You don’t need to put anything away. There will be plenty of time for that later.”

                Jack looked at him pointedly. “Oh yeah? If I don’t do it now, who exactly is going to do it later?”

                He paused. “uh… probably still you, but you just don’t need to do it now.” He smirked. “I want to show you what we did.” Slowly he backed away pulling her with him.

                The living room, dining room and kitchen shared an open expanse of area in the central part of the warehouse. Down to one side was Leo’s room, Mikey’s room, Ant’s room and the meditation room, which Leo was currently in. On the other side of the house was Donatello’s monstrosity of a room and lab set up, the training room and the full sized bathroom.

                “Wow… the training room is double the size of the old one!” Jack grinned.

                Raphael nodded. “Hopefully Don and I can build some more equipment to work out for the one side and then of course it gives us more room to actually train with each other.”

                She turned and looked up at him. “So where are our rooms?”

                His features darkened a bit and his eye looked away from hers. Taking her hand he pulled her over to the metal staircase and led her up to the rooms that he had made up there. There were two, side by side with a small metal grated walk way that served as the ‘hallway’ outside the doors.  They passed the first door.

                “What’s in that room?” Jack asked.

                “Nothing.” Instead Raph opened the second.

                Inside was obviously his room, but it was different. His hammock was hanging in the corner like always, a night stand positioned just within reach. Then just beside it was Jack’s dresser. The boxes containing her clothing and personal items were still sitting on the floor by it. The most surprising thing though was Jack’s small bed against the far wall where a rusty shuttered window was, currently it was covered in a few more boxes and blankets. 

                “I hope this is okay…” Raph rubbed the back of his head.

                “You put all of our things together.” She said quietly, as if she was still digesting the fact and taking it all in.

                “Yeah, well… I just figured we spent all of our time together anyway… I like having you close and… well I didn’t want to get rid of your bed, I mean I know the hammock can get kind of cramped with the both of us so you might not always want to sleep there with me or anything but I thought you might want to at least stay here…”

                Jack turned to face him. “Raph.” She put a hand on his cheek. “This is perfect.” With her hands on his shoulders she pulled herself up to plant a small kiss on his lips.

                His face was a bright red. “I’m glad you like it…” He muttered as she pulled away.

                Turning back to the room the woman went to the boxes and started to unpack her clothing. She put them away in the dresser before discarding the boxes out onto the walkway.

                “So are you happy with the new place?” Raph asked as he came up beside her to help her put things away.

                “Of course! The place is great!” Beaming, she turned and looked at him. Then she moved over to the bed and climbed on top after moving aside the last few boxes. She crawled over to the window and tried to peer out the rested metal slats that marred her vision out into the night sky. A frown crossed her face.

                “What’s wrong?” Raph asked as he came over and kneeled beside her to mimic her actions and try to look out the window.

                “I was just kind of hoping for more of a window… maybe get some real sky at some point. Get some light…” She shrugged.

                The turtled moved from the window and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her over to his chest. Turning her to face him he put his forehead against hers. “Once we get everything unpacked I’ll see what I can do about fixing the window.”

                “Won’t people be able to see in?”

                “I’ll frost the glass or something. Fix it up just for you.”

                She smiled and kissed him. The turtle pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. It was the first time they had any real time together in the past few weeks. Raphael’s big hand slipped under the edge of Jack’s shirt and felt the warm skin of her back as he held her and his heart started to race as he felt heat surging through his own body.

                In an instant he had them flipped over and the woman was on her back beneath him. Her lips were still on his as his hands moved down her form. The turtle could feel the pressure building as he felt her leg slid up alongside of him and suddenly he broke off the kiss and tried to pull away.

                A small hand on his shoulder stopped him. Flushed, he looked down at the red face of the woman still pinned beneath him. “Why are you stopping?” She asked quietly as she tried to catch her breath.

                Raph closed his eye for a moment. “I… I don’t want to hurt you.” He admitted. Besides his own nerves about where he knew he wanted to go, he had no idea how it would progress.

                Gently, Jacquelyn urged him closer and reconnected their lips. “You won’t hurt me.”

                With her consent, the turtle didn’t hold himself back anymore. He showed her everything he felt for her that night, in every way he could.


	31. Chapter 31

                Raphael pulled a blanket up over Jacquelyn’s exposed body as she slept on the bed before him. Sitting there beside her, Raph couldn’t help but smile to himself as he moved a long strand of hair from her face. It still baffled him how he had ever managed to find her and get her to feel the same way he did. It was one thing for him to love her but for her to love him still boggled his mind. Not in a million years did he ever think he’d actually make love to the woman.

                Scooting down beside her, a thick arm wrapped around her and pulled her warm body against his plastron. The turtle kissed the back of her neck before he closed his eye and snuggled in to try and get some sleep, if his heart would ever calm down.

                Jack was moving around quite a bit in her sleep, her movements coinciding with the storm that was raging outside. In the early hours of the morning, Raph opened his eye and looked down at the mumbling woman in his arm. Whatever she was mumbling wasn’t really coherent, but the furrow across her forehead had the turtle worried. He ran a finger down her cheek.

                “Jacquelyn.” He said softly. “Jacquelyn wake up.”

                She mumbled and tossed and turned in his arms. Lightning flashed and momentarily lit up the room through the slats that covered up the window.

                “Shhh.” Raph tried to hush her but to no real avail.

                With another boom of thunder, her body jumped and her eyes snapped open. Her grip on his arm tightened. “Raphael?”

                “Hey…” He pulled the blanket around her as his arms circled her. “You were having a pretty bad dream I think.”

                She nodded. “The storm didn’t help.” She scooted up and kissed his neck before finding his lips briefly. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

                “Don’t be.”  He kissed her forehead.

                The woman smiled and snuggled into his side. “I love you.” She said quietly in the darkness amidst the sound of the pouring rain.

                “I love you too.”

               

                In the morning Raphael was the first to wake. The storm had passed and now the sun was coming through the window in broken beams and landing across the woman beside him. Jack was tangled in the blanket, her hair a pale mess on the pillow behind her head. Raph let a small smile cross his face as he eased his arm out from under her and carefully climbed off the bed. He made his way downstairs to the kitchen where he found his older brother already working on breakfast.

                “You should be more careful.” Leo said without turning around.

                Raph paused. “What?” He asked as he went to the fridge to grab the carton of eggs and hand them to his brother.

                “Your room is right above mine.” Leo glanced at him. “And you and Casey didn’t exactly sound proof the floor.”

                Instantly Raphael’s face turned red as he recalled the previous night and the kinds of sounds he and Jack had been making. “I uh…”

                “I’m happy for you Raph. Just… make sure you guys are a little more careful.” Leo cracked a few eggs into the skillet before him.

                Raphael swallowed his embarrassment but It was quickly replaced with a sense of guilt. He remembered a time he had walked in on Leo and Mona a time or two. Now Leo didn’t have anyone. “Sorry…”

                “Don’t be.”

                Raph rubbed the back of his head, still a bit embarrassed. “What happened to the boxes that the guys brought back last night?”

                “They took them to the rooms. They aren’t put away yet, but everything is at least in the room it belongs too.” Leo informed him.

                “Sounds good.” Raph took a plate when his brother offered him one. Turning to the dining room table he sat down and started to eat just before Leo joined him.

                Leo paused, the fork, just an inch or so away from his mouth. “Mikey told me something else rather interesting last night while you and Jack were busy.”

                “Oh? What was that?” Raph bit his tongue, trying to not get angry at his brother for mentioning his love life so casually. Leo was dealing with his own relationship problems, maybe venting would help, but Raph could only handle so much.

                “Old Hob is back.”

                Raphael coughed on the mouthful of egg he had just started to chew. “What?” He glared.

                “Apparently the old flea bag was in the sewer by the old place. He grabbed Jack.” Leo looked at him. “Didn’t you notice the mark on her arm? Probably right around the same spot she left those scratches on your arm?” Leo cocked a brow at him.

                Heat flushed his face as Raph looked down at the nail marks the woman had left across his upper arm during the night. He snorted and tried to ignore his fluster. He had noticed the bruise on her arm but she had asked him to let it go so he had. Now he wished he hadn’t. “So what did the cat want?” Raph snapped before shoving another bite in his mouth.

                The T.V. in the living room buzzed to life with white noise as Mikey tried to hook it up. Leo glanced over briefly before taking another bite of his food and shrugging. “Don’t know. He didn’t exactly say.”

                “Hey guys!” Mikey’s voice from the living room stole their attention.

                “What is it Mike?” Leo asked.

                “Come look at this!”

                Raph and Leo looked at one another before getting to their feet and wondering over to where they could see the T.V. Mikey was still on the floor staring up at the news broadcast on the screen. There was a well-built man in an Armani suit filling up the television. Reflective lenses covered his eyes as he slicked back his salt and pepper hair.

                “Xanus.” Leo said through gritted teeth.

                _“Is it true your company had a break in?”_ a reported asked him.

                _“No no… nothing of the sort. One of our machines malfunctioned during an experiment in the lab. Nothing too far out of the normal.”_ He said casually.

                _“Will this affect the production of your new miracle drugs?”_

_“No of course not. Here, I’d like to introduce you to a man and woman who are having a big hand in helping with the production that is going to change how we are going to live.”_ Xanus gestured off camera and a man and woman in their twenties stepped on screen.

                The turtles all froze. Mona Lisa was standing there beside…

                “Anthony?” Raphael barely said the name as he stepped closer to the screen. He’d seen that man in all the pictures Jack owned.

                “Who?” Mikey looked back at him.

                “That… That’s Jack’s brother but… he’s supposed to be dead.” Raph ran a hand over his face before looking up at the loft where Jack was still sleeping.

                “I… I know him.”

                The three brothers all turned around and saw Antonello standing there, his brow furrowed beneath his yellow mask. Something was wrong, it was written on his face. Suddenly the turtle grabbed at his chest and dropped to his knee.

                “Ant!” Raph  rushed to his side, the other’s close behind.

                The young turtle was struggling to breathe. “He… he is…” He was genuinely gasping now.

Raph knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shell as he tried to get the turtle to straighten up. “Breathe dude. Take a breath!” Raph tried to calm him down.

                Ant just shook his head as he sank further to the floor. Was this a panic attack? Something worse?

                Raph looked up at Leo and Mikey.

                “Let’s get him to Donnie’s room.” Leo said as he pulled Ant’s arm away from his chest and helped Raph pull him to his feet.

                Donatello was sitting at his desk when his brother’s walked in. He had a metal leg laid out before him on the table, making adjustments to it with a screw driver before he looked over at the wheezing turtle the older two were practically dragging in.

                “What’s going on?” Donatello pushed his chair over to the chair that Ant was placed in.

                “He saw something on T.V. and just started to freak out.” Mikey did his best to explain.

                Donnie shook his head as he came over and took Ant’s pulse. He checked a few other things on the turtle before going to a sterile cabinet and grabbing a vile and syringe. He brought them over and injected the panicking turtle with the sedative.

                “Arionna brought some of this stuff over. This is just a mild sedative. It’ll help you calm down.” Donnie pressed a cotton swab to the area where he had stabbed the needle.

                Ant rubbed his face as his chest slowly started to slow to a normal breathing pace.

                “He’s going to just pass out here in a minute. Make sure he doesn’t fall out of the chair.” Donatello said as he rolled back over to the cabinet to put the vile away.

                On cue, Ant’s head started to roll off to the side so Raph grabbed his shoulder to keep him planted on the chair for now.

                “How much of Jack’s diary did you read?” Raph asked his brother.

                Leo looked at him a bit surprised but then turned back to Don to hear the answer.

                The one in purple scratched his head. “Well, when we were worried about the codes, I read the whole thing looking for clues about them.” He frowned. “Why? I am not going to tell you something she hasn’t told you herself, it’s her business and I still feel like a terrible person for reading it.”

                Raph shook his head. “We aren’t looking for her secrets I just… The guy that Ant saw on T.V.” Raph sighed. “It was Jack’s brother.”

                Donnie stiffened and looked up at Raphael.

                “But Jack told me Anthony was killed by Xanus and the foot.”

                “Yeah that’s why she was all beat up when she first moved here.” Mikey added.

                “Anthony was killed by the foot. Jack wouldn’t lie about that, you know she wouldn’t. Besides, that wasn’t even mentioned in her diary.” Donatello rolled his way over to a book shelf and pulled down the worn little diary that belonged to Jacquelyn. He flipped open to a page and pulled out a small photograph that was shoved in the binding. He handed the photo over to Raph and Leo

                The wrinkled piece of paper showed three people. Jack was standing in the middle, maybe a freshman in high school. Then on either side of her stood a young man with ragged blonde hair and green eyes that matched her own. The men were identical in appearance and were obviously a younger version of the man on the screen and a younger version of the man in all the photographs Jack had in her suitcase.

                “What the hell?” Leo mumbled as he pulled the photograph from Raphael’s free hand.

                “Meet Anthony and Adam. Jack’s older brothers, twins. She talks about Adam quite a bit in the first part of her journal.”

                Raph looked over at the turtle talking. “Why wouldn’t she mention another brother? I thought she didn’t have any one left… Isn’t that why she was so willing to stay with us?” He was so confused. Why wouldn’t she go back to her family if she still had one? Did she not know he was out there? If she found out then, would she leave as soon as she found out she had family out there?

                “Raph stop it.” Donatello demanded. “Apparently Adam was nothing like his twin. Adam was…”

                “Donatello shut up.”

                The entire room turned and looked at the door. Standing there was Jack, dressed for the day, none of them had heard her come down stairs or up behind them. The look on her face told them that they had clearly crossed a line. Storming into the room she snatched her diary out of Donatello’s hand and glared at him for a long moment before turning on her heel and snatching the photo from Leo. Then she walked out.

                “Gee, thanks guys.” Donnie snorted. “Exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”

                “Jack!” Raph let go of Ant and hurried after her. “Jack wait!”

                Mikey rushed to his brother’s side and kept him from falling out of the chair. He looked over at Donatello. “So… who exactly is Adam?”

                Don shook his head vigorously. “Nope. I’m done. I do _not_ want that woman pissed off at me. If you want to know about him, find out from her.”

                Out in the living room, Raphael looked around for Jack. She was nowhere to be seen. That’s when he heard the side room slam shut. _Outside?! What the fuck is she thinking!_ He asked himself as he ran to the door and wrenched it open, oblivious to the consequences himself.

                The sun was bright, brighter than he expected. Raph squinted against the light as he held up a hand to shade his eye. He knew he shouldn’t have been out there, it would have been too easy for someone to spot him. But Jack was out here somewhere, furious and he had to bring her back inside. She wasn’t exactly safe outside anymore either.

                He finally spotted the woman walking off towards the main road. Rushing after her, Raph put a large hand on her shoulder to stop her. “Jack! What are you doing?”

                The woman wrenched her shoulder out of his grip. “What the hell were you thinking?!” she shouted at him. “Do you even know how much these mean to me?” There were tears welling up in her eyes as she looked up at him.

                “I didn’t… I mean…” He wasn’t expecting this kind of reaction. Raph didn’t really know what to do. “I guess I wasn’t-“

                “That’s right, you weren’t thinking!” She smacked him in the chest with the journal in her hand. “You didn’t think to ask if it was okay to go through my things! To dig into a past where you don’t belong!”

                “Jacquelyn, that’s not what we were doing!” Raph grabbed her hands. “You don’t understand.”

                “No you don’t understand!” The tears were dripping down her cheeks now. “These… these stupid journals were the only things that kept me sane for years! And this is the only one that the foot didn’t destroy when they killed Anthony. It’s the last shred of sanity I have left. I can’t even bring myself to read it because it has a part of my life I refuse to remember.”

                Raph slowly shook his head. “I… I don’t understand what you are talking about. Jack will you please just come back inside so we can discuss this?”

                “No!” She looked up at him. “You crossed a line Raph!”

                Raph knelt down in front of her. “Please… I’m sorry. I… I’m an idiot, okay? I know I messed up but I really have no idea what you are talking about. I can explain why we took your journal, and you can be pissed at me for that but please, can we just get off the street? Then you can tell me what happened… Does this have something to do with Adam?”

                The woman shook her head. “Don’t you dare say that name.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I hear the way you mumble at night… you still think of yourself as a monster. There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to convince you otherwise.” She looked up at him. “But I’ve seen real monsters. Adam is a monster. I lived with him. Real evil and I will not go back to relive that!” She pulled the picture out and stared at it for a moment before ripping it up into pieces. Then almost as if she was horrified by her own actions she tried to gather up all the little pieces in her hands. Sinking to the ground, her shoulders shook as she cried.

                “Come here.” Raph wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. Rising to his feet he lifted her in his arms and carried her back into the warehouse. “I’m still not sure what exactly is going on but… I’ll tell you what I know.” He kicked open the door and took her over to the living room sofa. Luckily for them, his brothers seemed to still be in Donnie’s room and the television was off for now. Sitting down with the woman on his lap, Raph kept talking. “When Alopex took you and we first heard about the codes that Xanus used, Leo went on that rampage in your room remember? He found your journal and that’s when we found out about the codes and all that stuff.”

                The woman nodded as she wiped at her face with her knuckles.

                “Donnie was the only one that read your journal. Figured he was the only one that would be able to make sense of it anyway… He only told us what was relevant to the codes. He refused to tell us anything else, said that was your place.” That’s when Raph sighed. “But Mike turned on the T.V. today and Xanus came on. He introduced some workers of his… Mona and well, I thought it was Anthony at first but you said he was dead.”

                “He is.” Jack looked up at him.

                “But the guy on the screen looked just like all the pictures you have.” Raph frowned. “I had to know if there was something I missed, so I asked Donnie if there was something in your journal that might have some kind of clue as to why I thought your brother was on T.V., that’s when he mentioned. Adam.”

                Her body stiffened in his arms.

                “Will you please tell me about him?” Raph put a finger under her chin and forced her to look up at him. “When Ant saw him on the screen he about had a nervous breakdown. Something is seriously going on here.”


	32. Chapter 32

                Jack scooted off of Raphael’s lap and leaned forward. She dropped the bits of photograph onto the coffee table and started to turn them all right side up. “I didn’t always live in Atlanta.” She said quietly. “I was born in a small town south of the city, three years after my big brothers Anthony and Adam.” Her fingers started to push the pieces back into order to form the picture once more. “Things were pretty normal as a kid I guess, until we started to realize that Adam was a little different. My parents spent a lot of time with me because I struggled with school, Anthony was smart, but nothing outrageous, Adam though…” She hesitated as her fingers landed on a piece of paper with one of the boy’s faces on it. “Adam was too smart for his own good. He’d read through entire text books in a week and by the first month of school he’d know the entire years curriculum. His teacher’s didn’t know what to do with him. They tried to advance him through the grades but he just did the same, nothing was challenging enough, he got bored, he’d talk back, he wouldn’t do the assigned work and would do his own thing. Think Einstein and Hawking combined probably combined with Donnie too.”

                Raph just sat there listening. He glanced over his shoulder when he heard footsteps behind him. Mikey and Leo were quietly making their way over, Jack hadn’t noticed.

                “Adam got so frustrated with our parents and teachers he dropped out of school and disappeared. I had just started high school. He’d show up now and again, but he’d be strung out, babbling about some new experiment he’d come up with. He said that the drugs helped him think, he could process more, do more… I don’t know, it never made sense to me.” She slid the last piece of the picture into place. “I was a sophomore in high school when Adam came home one night while we were all asleep. I heard some strange sounds and woke up to find Adam in our parents room standing there with a knife in his hand, covered in blood, my parents were on the floor cut open like livestock.”

                Reaching over Raph wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry…”

                She shook her head. “I… I wasn’t doing so well after that. The police couldn’t actually prove that Adam did it and I was too unstable to base it off my testimony.” Jack sighed. “Anthony moved us to the city and legally changed our last name to try and hide from Adam. I started seeing a therapist so I wasn’t scared of the last relative I could actually trust, Anthony. He told me to use Journals to help get my ideas and feelings down. But since Anthony worked so hard to help us afford a therapist I couldn’t really spend extra time getting help studying at school. Anthony and I tried to live our lives quietly so Adam wouldn’t find us… I still have no idea why he killed our parents or what he’s done since. I’ve done everything I could to avoid him.”

                “Well I don’t think you can avoid him any longer.”

                She jumped a bit at the sound of Leo’s voice but turned and looked up at him.

                The turtle stood behind the sofa looking down at her with Mikey beside him. “Your brother is working with Xanus. If he is as smart as you say he is, we could be in some serious trouble.”

                “Do you have any idea what he might be doing with Xanus?” Mikey leaned on the sofa and asked her.

                She shook her head. “He’s always been fascinated by creepy things. He killed the neighbor’s dog once just to dissect it to see how it worked. If he gets to play with the mutagen I can only imagine what he is planning on doing.”

                Raph kissed her temple. “I’m sorry we had to bring all this up.” He whispered in her ear.

                She nodded slowly.

                “We need to get the training room set up, get back into an official regimen.” Leo declared. “We need to figure out what they are doing and be prepared. With Adam and Old Hob suddenly showing up I have a fear that things are about to get really messy.”

                Raph nodded. “I’d like to figure out what freaked out Ant so much.”

                “He’s still passed out in Donnie’s room.” Mikey told them.

                Nodding, Raph carefully got to his feet after letting go of Jack. “I’m going to make you something to eat.” His hand lingered on her shoulder before he got to his feet and went to the kitchen.

                Jack just sat there staring at the fragmented picture before her for a long moment before getting to her feet. Without a word she walked over to the meditation room. It was much more spacious than the room in the previous home in the sewer. Still not set up thought. The floor was at least covered with Tatami and silenced her steps like it should. Crossing the room to the low table against the far wall, Jack opened the small box left in there. She pulled out the canister of incense and burner, followed by the rice paper scrolls that held Yoshi Hamato’s name and Master Splinter’s image. The woman hung the scrolls up on the wall before she knelt down at the table. After lighting the incense and placing it in the burner she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.

                The door behind her opened up briefly as someone stepped inside and then knelt down beside her. She didn’t open up her eyes as she was joined in thought. A few long moments in mutual silence passed before the turtle at her side spoke.

                “I’m sorry if I caused some sort of rift between you and Raphael.” Leo said quietly. “He had nothing to do with going through your things. That was all on me so please don’t take it out on him.”

                Jack looked up at him, the eyes meeting and giving her the odd chance to look at her own eye for a moment. “I won’t. I should apologize for overreacting really. I just…”

                “It’s a rough subject.” His hand landed on her shoulder. “We understand that. But we are your family so you should feel okay talking to us about this stuff.”

                She snorted.

                He held his hands up. “Yeah okay, we are all kind of thick headed. We _all_ need to work on it. But you get my point.”

                “Yeah I get your point.” She wrapped an arm around Leo’s and gave him a small hug.

                He smiled slightly. “Your food is ready.” He gestured with his head. “Go eat.”

                Jacquelyn got to her feet and left, making her way out to where Raphael had a plate of food already set up for her. As soon as she entered the room, Raph was on his feet, looking at her nervously.

                She took his hand for a moment. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I just needed a minute.” After a quick kiss on the cheek, she took a seat and grabbed the plate he made her before digging in.

 

                Antonello’s eyes slowly blinked open. It was dark, there was a gentle snoring coming from across the room. Rubbing his face, the turtle got to his feet and looked around. He was still in Donatello’s room. Crossing the room, Ant stood beside Donnie who had fallen asleep at his desk slumped over his new prosthetic. The young turtle’s head cocked to the side. His brother sleeping there just looked so… vulnerable. Weak. Ant reached out a hand slowly. He blinked and shook his head.

                “What….” His hand was just about to grab Donnie’s neck. Ant took a step back, a bit shocked by his own actions. He shook his head a bit harder this time and turned to leave the room. _I must be sleep walking or something…_ he thought to himself.

                He headed to the kitchen. His stomach was growling so food seemed like a smart idea. But the turtle never made it to the kitchen. His feet changed direction in the hall and he went to his bedroom instead. His good hand wrapped around the haft of his ono and then he silently carried the weapon out to the main part of the warehouse. He stood in the living room looking around for a long moment. His eyes shifted up to Raphael and Jack’s room where he could hear their movement at the late hour. They were at it again. But sneaking up there would be difficult. So his gaze went back to the first floor bedrooms. Mikey and Leo. He moved to the first door.

                Slowly twisting the door knob he slipped inside the dark room and found Mikey sprawled out on his bed, his blankets strewn across the floor. In the dark, Antonello slid across the floor and loomed over his brother’s form. Hefting his axe overhead, he swung the weapon down at his brother’s throat.

 Just before it made contact, Ant let out a startled cry, his arm jerked back and the ono lodged itself in the mattress. Mikey jerked awake and scrambled back against the wall before smacking his nightstand light.

                “A-Ant?” He stammered.

                Antonello swallowed hard, his eyes wide as he let the weapon go and backed up against the far wall. “Mikey…” He mumbled, his voice small and shaking. “Something is wrong with me.” Their eyes met and the elder turtle could see the real fear in the teenager’s eyes.

                “O-okay dude.” Mikey plucked the weapon from his bed and set it behind him. “What do you mean something is wrong with you?” He scooted off the bed and cautiously approached the other.

                Ant ran a hand over his face. “I don’t know! I just… I woke up and went to leave and the next thing I know I was trying to strangle Donnie.” He looked at Mikey. “I thought I was sleep walking. So I went to the kitchen to get food, but I never made it the next thing I remember is standing over you with my ono trying to decapitate you!” He took a step towards him but stopped when Mikey visibly recoiled. “What’s happening to me? Why am I blacking out? Why am I trying to hurt you?”

                “I don’t know… but we will figure it out.” Mikey put a hand on Ant’s shell and gently ushered him out into the hall. “Leo!” He shouted. “Leo Wake up!”

                The eldest in the household came out of his room, maskless and a bit unhappy for being woken up. “What is it Mikey?” He demanded.

                “We have a problem.” He glanced to Ant.

                Leo’s glare softened a bit as he looked to the teenager. He was almost trembling as he stared down at the arm guard covering his maimed hand. His gaze shifted back to Mikey. “What’s going on?”

                Mikey tried to explain things to Leo as much as he could, but while he was talking Ant walked away. The other two turtles stopped talking and looked at him.

                “Ant?” Leo asked.

                He didn’t answer.

                Leo looked at Mikey. “Is this what you meant?”

                “I don’t know… I haven’t actually seen it. It’s just what he told me.” Mikey scratched his head.

                Ant went back into Mikey’s room. He was muttering as he searched for his weapon.

                “What’s he saying?” Mikey whispered.

                Leo frowned and took a step into the room.

                “… must be eliminated. Samples need to be obtained and returned…” He sounded mechanic almost robotic.

                After watching him search for something in Mikey’s room for just a minute longer before he stepped in front of him. “Antonello!” He said in his most authoritative voice. “Snap out of it!”

                The teenager’s hand lashed out and smacked Leo hard across the face sending him flying back into the wall. Then his right hand pinned him to the wall by his throat. But instead of harming Leo, Ant was staring down at his scarred hand. Almost like his mind had wondered somewhere else he pulled his hand away and looked at the huge ugly scar that split his pale skin. “Damaged… only functioning at minimal capacity.” He frowned. “This will not do.”

                Leo grabbed hold of the hand he had cut in nearly two, months ago. He wrenched it behind Ant’s back and pinned the turtle face first, against the wall.

                The teen let out a shout. “L-Leo?  What… what’s going on?”

                Their leader frowned and looked over his shoulder at Mikey before slowly pulling Ant away from the wall and back out into the hallway.

                “Leo please…. Tell me what is going on.” Ant was begging clearly scared.

                “I don’t know.”

                He pulled away from his brother’s grip. “Well.. I… I don’t want to hurt you guys.” He sighed. “If I keep blacking out, I’m afraid I’m going to do something.” He frowned and set his face. “Lock me in my room. Take away my weapon.”

                “You aren’t a prisoner!” Mikey protested. “You are sick!”

                “But I’m obviously dangerous! And I don’t want to hurt someone… Just do it until the morning until Donnie can at least look at me and maybe do something.” Ant stomped down to his room. And slammed the door shut. “Lock it!”

                The other two looked at each other and went to the door. It opened into the room, so it took a little bit of thinking but eventually Mikey and Leo got the door barred shut.

                Leo grabbed a chair from the kitchen and propped himself up just outside of Ant’s bedroom. Mikey stood beside him.

                “So what are we going to do?”

                “You are going to go back to bed.” Leo looked up at him. “I’m going to sit here and keep an eye Antonello. We will figure this all out in the morning.”

                Mikey nodded and headed off to his room.

                Leo leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest. It was still late, just a little while later his head was slowly bobbing as he drifted off to sleep.


	33. Chapter 33

                Jack looked over at the sleeping turtle beside her. She smiled softly and kissed his cheek before she lifted his arm from around her waist. Moving the blanket from across her she put it over her lover and then climbed out of their bed.  After finding her shirt from the floor and her underwear and pants, she pulled them all on and made her way down stairs.

                She was only half way down the stairs when she heard the pounding. Kicking and banging against a door. Frowning, Jack followed the sound and ended up outside of Antonello’s room where she found Leonardo passed out in a chair just outside of his door. She looked from him to the door that was tied and barred with junk. Inside the room Ant was yelling.

                “Must be released!” He beat his fists on the door. “Mission must be completed!”

                “Ant?” Jack hesitated before she placed a hand on the shaking door.

                Everything in the room stilled for a moment before Ant spoke again. “Jack?” He sounded more like himself. “Jack what are you doing out there? You shouldn’t be anywhere near here!”

                “What’s going on Ant? Why are you locked in your room?” She reached to move the things barring his door.

                “Don’t touch anything!” Ant demanded. “I don’t know what’s happening to me but I’m… I’m not right….”

                Jack pulled her hand back to herself and frowned. “Ant…” She said sadly before turning to Leo. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gently shook him. “Leo. Leo wake up.”

                The turtle bolted out of the chair and to his feet. “Wha… huh…” he looked around bleary eyed.

                “Leo.”

                The turtle looked at her. “Jacquelyn?” He rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

                “I wanted to get a drink but then I heard Ant banging on the door.” It was silent now as she glanced at the room.

                “Yeah he is having some… issues.”

                “What kind of issues?” Jack put her hands on her hips. “Why is he locked in his room screaming about… something and trying to break out?”

                Leo frowned. “We don’t know and Ant doesn’t know either he is just… having black outs or lapses in time. I want Don to examine him when he wakes up.”

                Jack rolled her eyes and ran her hand through her hair. “Don’t you think this is rather serious? I think this is worthy of waking up Donnie.” She turned and started to head off towards Donatello’s room. She knocked on the door. No answer. Jack knocked again, harder.

                “Come in.” Don’s groggy voice called from the other side.

                Letting herself in, Jack found the turtle sitting up slowly from a position at his work desk. Wiping some drool from his face he looked over at her as she walked in and then he looked over at the clock on the wall.

“Three in the morning? What now?”

                “We have a problem.”

                He sat up straight. “What kind of problem?”

                “Ant.” Jack looked over her shoulder. “He’s locked in his room because apparently he keeps blacking out… I’m not too sure. Leo didn’t tell me much. All I know is he was just yelling and beating on his door like a crazy person, then a second later he was all normal.”

                Donnie frowned and scratched his head. “Give me a minute. I’ll be right there.”

                “Thanks Donnie.” Jack pated his shoulder and made her way back to the hallway. The woman was surprised to see Mikey and Leo standing outside Antonello’s room. She also missed Raphael coming up behind her.

                His large hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back to him. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” He mumbled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

                “I was just going to get a drink…” Jack looked up at him as he let her go.

                “Taking long enough.” He snorted.

                “Well… something came up. I was just about to come get you.”

                Raph looked over at his brothers when he heard the pounding start up again on Ant’s door. “What the hell is going on?”

                The door to Donatello’s room opened and everyone turned to look. Donatello stood there with his new metal leg firmly attached to the appendage that had been cut off. IT was a sturdy looking black structure with different layers that seemed to move with his shifting calf muscle, or what was left of it. It had a rough ankle joint and foot constructed like his other. He walked over to join his brothers with a heavy limp, his first time testing out the new prosthetic apparent but he said nothing.

                “I too would like to know what exactly is going on.” He said instead.

                Mikey sighed and started talking. He told everyone what he saw when he woke up with Ant hovering over him. Then he relayed when Ant had said about waking up in Donnie’s lab and trying to strangle him, the apparent black outs and missing time. “…He made us lock him in his room so he wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

                “Anyone but himself.” Jack folded her arms across her chest.

                Donnie sighed. “She is right. You should have woken me up sooner.” His gaze shifted to the door. “We are going to wait till his next lucid moment and let him out. If he insists, we will restrain him, but then we are taking him to my lab so I can run some tests.”

                Raphael grunted. “Do you think this has something to do with his panic attack yesterday?”

                “Most likely.” Donnie commented. “This has to be related to something. I can’t see it being completely random and having no trigger whatsoever.”

                The one in red made his way to the bed room door and moved everything that was barring his way. Ant was still banging things on the other side but Raph clearly didn’t care.

                “Raph don’t!” Leo tried to stop him, but his brother didn’t listen.

                Raphael waited another moment before he threw the door open and launched himself inside. He found Ant in an instant and pinned the younger turtle to the wall with ease since he had surprised him. The other’s looked in when they heard him flailing and struggling in Raphael’s grip. The room was a wreck. The bed was broken in half and thrown in opposite corners of the room. A chair was in pieces, it looked like a leg was broken trying to pry open one of the metal slats covering the window. A night stand was upside down and cracked and mangled in disjointed pieces.

                The turtle Raphael had pinned against the wall squirmed and writhed in his grasp. “Must complete task…” He grunted.

                “Snap out of it!” Raph smacked him against the wall.

                The teenager went limp for a second before he straightened. “R-Raph? Where’d you come from?” He looked around. “How’d you guys get in my room?” His eyes were filled with fear, he wasn’t scared of Raph though, he was scared of hurting someone, scared of what he might have done.

                “I came in. And now we are going to fix you.” Raph let his arms go, but kept a hand on his shoulder as he pulled him away from the wall and pointed him towards the door. ”We are going to Don’s room.”

                The other’s made way for the pair as Raph guided his little brother down the hall back to Donatello’s lab. Jack stepped up beside Donnie as they followed the others to his room. She looked down at his leg as he limped along.

                “How’s it working?”

                He looked down. “It’s pinching on the inside of what’s left of my calf, and the ankle joint is too stiff. But the overall structure seems to be functioning properly.”

                “That’s good.” Jack smiled. “Hope your work with Ant is just as productive. He’s acting… really weird.”

                “That’s for sure. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly caused the sudden change in his demeanor and the sudden bounce back and forth between his lucid moments.”

                As soon as Ant and Raph entered Donatello’s room, a siren sounded. Ant jumped in Raph’s grip and looked up at the flashing light above.

                “Calm your ass down.” Raph walked him further in and shoved him into a seat.

                Leo looked back to Don as the other turtle tried to pick up his pace. “What’s the alarm mean?”

                “It’s to find electronic frequency emitters.”

                “Bugs. You are looking for bugs.” Leo frowned.

                “Yes.” Donnie pushed his way into his own room. “After your little incident with Jack I figured it was smart to at least set up a sensor in my room so I’d be alerted if anyone else came in with one of those things connected to them. The plan was to eventually set the sensors up all over the warehouse but I haven’t gotten there yet.”

                Leo waved his hand. “That doesn’t matter. The point is, they picked up something.” He pointed over to the young turtle still sitting under Raphael’s hands. “You think Ant has a bug on him?”

                “Only one way to find out.”

                Jack looked at Mikey and frowned.

                Mikey scratched his cheek and then put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Jackie, Donnie’s got this. He’ll fix Ant up in no time.”

                She tried to smile. “I don’t doubt he’ll fix Ant… I just worry about who did this to him. And what that means for all of us.”

                Donnie went over to Antonello and Raphael and patted the examination table. Raphael let go of his little brother so the turtle could climb up on the table and sit, but he didn’t go far. Limping around the table, Donatello gave Ant a thorough visual inspection. He lifted his arms, legs, even moved his tail and looked in the crevices of his shell for any sign of a foreign object. 

                “Well I don’t _see_ anything.” Donnie scratched his chin. “Has anyone ever done any surgeries on you?” The question came out sounding odd. It was like he was questioning a patient but it was his brother. Ant had been a blank slate when he arrived. The turtle’s whole identity had been forged in the past few years here with all of them. He didn’t have memories that didn’t involve them.

                Ant shook his head. “Just when you stitched my hand.”  Then he cringed, his eyes closing for a moment.

                “Ant?” Raph asked as he stepped closer, getting ready to pin him down if he needed to.

                Ant grabbed at his head. “I… It hurts.” He said through gritted teeth.

                “What hurts?” Donnie asked as he turned to his table of medicine and tools looking for something that might help.

                “The voice. The directions. I…” His fingers were digging into his skull on the hand that had function.

                Donnie hunched down in front of him. “What’s it saying Ant? Who’s voice is it?”

                He shook his head. “No! It hurts! I…” Suddenly his hand lashed out and grabbed hold of Donnie’s neck.  Ant sat up straight, his eyes lifeless as he stared at his brother.

                Donatello coughed and tugged at Ant’s hand as Raph tried to pull it off of him.

                “Ant!” Raph yelled. “Ant snap out of it!”

                Leo jumped up on the table and put the delusional turtle in a choke hold to try and get him to release his hold on Donnie but nothing seemed to work. Mikey joined in the fray of shouts and tried to help pry Ant’s death grip off his other brother’s neck but still nothing. Eventually fists started assaulting Ant, anything in a desperate attempt to get oxygen to Donatello.

                Then out of nowhere a needle was plunged into Ant’s arm. The turtle screamed and let go of Donatello to backhand whoever had just hurt him. Jack. The woman was knocked backwards into another table. Raph growled and grabbed Ant by the neck. With Leo’s help they wrangled him to the table.

                While Donatello coughed air into his lungs, The other three turtles held Ant down on the table while the sedative took effect and knocked him out. As soon as he could, Raphael let him go and walked around to where Jack was sitting on the floor. He put a hand on her cheek.

                “That was pretty stupid.”

                Jack brushed his hand aside and let him help her to her feet. “Yeah well, you guys weren’t having any success. I had to do something.” She rubbed the bruise on her jaw.

                Leo and Mikey were crawling off of their brother and laying him out on the table now that he was unconscious. They looked over at Donatello who was rubbing his neck.

                “Good move Jack.” Donnie nodded. “Not sure I would have used that much but good thought. At least now I can examine him.

                “Do you need help with him?” Leo asked.

                Donnie shook his head. “Not with restraints. I might need a hand with the exam…” He looked at Jack.

                “I’ll stay and help.” Jack smiled slightly.

                Raph frowned.

                “Don’t worry.” Donnie looked at him. “With the amount of sedative your girlfriend pumped into him, he’ll be lucky if he wakes up in three days.”

                He was still frowning, but he nodded. Leaning over Raph kissed the side of her head and then turned to follow Leo and Mikey out of the room. Mikey headed straight to the television and started to flip through news stations to see if he could find anything relevant to Xanus. Leonardo went to the kitchen and heated up some tea. He grabbed two cups and the pot and looked at Raph. Motioning with his head, he led his younger brother to the meditation room. After taking a seat and pouring them each a cup, the one in blue took a long sip and held his warm cup.

                Raph followed suit, staring down at the hot liquid as he felt the warmth spread in his chest. “Only you could make Master Splinter’s tea just right.”

                “Practice Raph. Practice.” He almost smirked. “How long has it been since we’ve done this?”

                “Sat down and had tea? Just the two of us?” Raph paused to think. “Since we were eighteen, so about nine years.”

                Leo nodded. “It’s been a while. We should start doing this again.”

                “Sure but… why are we doing this now?” Raph set his empty cup down and Leo started to fill it. “Don’t we have some other important things to be discussing?”

                “That’s why we are here. Tea always seems to calm you down.” Leo looked up at him. “We need to figure out what to do with Antonello.”

                “What do you mean? Donnie’s working on that? We are going to figure out what ever the hell is wrong with him and fix it.”

                Leo nodded. “I hope that is what we do, but we have to be realistic Raph.” Leo’s multicolored eyes held his brother’s gaze. “When I first showed up here I had that thing stuck to my neck, part of me thinks that Ant might have one too, it’s just a theory though.”

                “Where did this theory come from?” Raph snorted.

                “Well you found Ant down in the swamps outside of Xanus’ research facility. It’s the same place I was. What if someone put something in him before you found him…” Leo frowned a bit sadly.

                Raph shoved his cup away. “Are you saying this like Ant was left there for me to find… on purpose?”

                “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just a theory.”

                “Well it’s a shitty one. Ant is part of this family. He knows just as much about you as I do. Hell he is half the reason you survived that damn lab experiment with minimal changes.” Raph gestured to Leo’s five digit hands.

                The other turtle pulled his hands back a bit, still a bit sensitive about the change. “I never said he wasn’t family Raph. He’s still our brother. I’m just saying that the huge chunk of his missing memory from before you found him might be a little more important than we previously considered.”

                Raph snatched the pot of tea and poured himself another cup. He knew his brother was right but he didn’t want to consider the thought of his other brother being at fault. He took a sip and stared down at the few pieces of leaves floating in the liquid. “I know you are right. But you didn’t see the fear in that boy’s eyes when I found him. Or when he was in his room just snapping out of this… Whatever is going on he has no part of. He is as much a victim as anyone.”

                Leo nodded. “I hope you are right. For everyone’s sake.” He finished his tea and got to his feet.


	34. Chapter 34

                “You guys have been in there for two days, have you figured anything out?” Mikey asked when Donatello and Jack finally came out of his room.

                Leo and Raph perked up from their meal at the dining room table when the other’s entered into the room. Don and Jack looked like they hadn’t slept the entire time they had been working away trying to find some sort of clue as to what was wrong with Antonello.

                Jack went over to Raphael and wrapped her arms around his neck before collapsing onto his lap. “I’m exhausted.”

                Donnie took one of the empty chairs at the table, his limp even more pronounced now than it had been the other day.

                “Well?” Mikey hurried to the table. “How’s Ant?”

                “It’s… pretty bad.” Donatello frowned.

                “Don’t say it like that.” Jack looked at him.

                Donnie sighed. “Well, it is…. Complicated. The x-ray showed that he has some kind of circuit board implanted at the base of his skull, there’s a tiny scar there but its rather old so far before we met him. There are also wires that run the length of his limbs and torso, linked to all his major organs.”

                “He’s half robot?” Mikey gasped.

                “No... he just has this implant that has infiltrated his body over the past few years.”

                Raph’s arms wrapped around Jack to keep her on his lap but he was looking at Donatello. “So can you get it out of him?”

                “I don’t think so. It’s so intricately woven into his system I might kill him if I try to remove it. Besides the main component is on his spinal cord and connected to his cerebellum, the damage removing that would cause is… tremendous to say the least.” Donnie ran a hand over his face.

                Leo slid his plate of half eaten food over to his brother. “So do you have any good news?”

                Donnie already had a mouthful of food but he paused when his brother spoke. “Jack and I think we can use the shell of the thing that was in your neck to maybe disrupt the signal it’s pumping into him. If I get it to hook up directly into the central circuit it might be able to keep him lucid at least. Err… I hope.”

                “Really? You think you two can get that to work?” Mikey looked from Donnie to Jack. The woman had passed out in her boyfriend’s lap, so Mikey looked back to Don.

                The turtle nodded. “Yeah, hopefully. But I need some sleep first.” He staggered to his feet and stumbled back to his bedroom. “Someone strap Ant down in case he wakes up… I’m too tired.”

                Mikey followed Donnie to his room to strap the other turtle to the exam table to make sure that in case he woke up. Raphael got to his feet with Jack in his arms and carried her up to their bed room. It wasn’t extremely late, but late enough. He carefully climbed into his hammock and pulled the woman in with him. After covering them up he gently rocked them with a foot that was hanging over the edge.

 

                It was the early morning hours when Jack finally woke up. She shifted in Raphael’s arms and rubbed at her eyes, a bit disoriented.

                “…y’okay?” the turtle mumbled without really looking.

                “Yeah just trying to get my bearings.” Jack got herself situated and curled up against his side, her fingers playing with the large open crack in his plastron.

                When the woman didn’t fall back asleep Raph finally opened his eye. “You sure you are okay?

                “Mhmm… I’m just thinking.”

                He rolled a bit so he could face her in the dark. “Thinking ‘bout what?”

                “A bunch of stuff.” Her fingers traced the gouges and scars on his chest. “Ant and what we are going to do if we can’t fix what’s going on with him… You and me… the warehouse…. Your brothers…”

                “We will figure out what to do with Ant, but why are you thinking about us? Did something happen? Did I do something wrong?” He seemed really concerned.

                “Of course not.” She leaned up and kissed him. “I was just thinking about what things might be like for us in the future.” She looked at him. “Do you ever think of those kind of things?”

                “Well… yeah, I guess.” Raph’s grip on her tightened, he didn’t really like the way she was talking.

                The woman shrugged. “Maybe all this stuff with Xanus is just freaking me out. I’m sorry.” She snuggled into him. I don’t mean to worry you, I just, want this mess to be over so I don’t have to worry about you getting hurt and I can just _be_ with you. Does that make sense?”

                “Yeah…” He kissed the top of her head and tucked the blanket around her. “Go back to sleep. We will all be okay.”

                In the morning after breakfast, Jack once again joined Donnie in his room to try and help come up with something that would fix Antonello’s outbursts and killer urges. While they were busy, Raph made himself a pot of tea and disappeared to the meditation room.

                “I didn’t think I’d find you here.”

                Raph looked up to find Leo behind him. “I needed to think.”

                “Need any help?”

                He snorted.

                “I’m serious.” Leo took a seat beside his brother. “Nothing new has shown up in the news and I’m not much use to Don. Maybe I can help with what is on your mind.”

                Raph sighed. “Jack woke up last night and was taking about a bunch of stuff. Made me worried.”

                “What kind of _stuff?_ ”

                “Ant, us, the family.  She’s worried about the whole situation, or so she says, just wants to get away from Xanus and move on with _us._ ”

                “So what’s wrong with that?” Leo asked as he poured himself a cup of tea.

                “Nothing I guess… just the way she was talking… made me think she wants to leave or something.” Raph stared down at his cup.

                “Raph…” Leo put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Jack isn’t going to leave. She couldn’t even if she wanted to… Have you even taken the time to look at her lately? I mean _really_ look at her? She virtually gave up her humanity to be here with you. She has forsaken everything she has ever known to live in the sewer and now a warehouse with us… five giant smelly reptiles. She almost died trying to just find you, she was willing to die to save me… I can only imagine what she’ll be willing to do in the future… She’s not going to leave.” He suddenly smacked Raph in the back of the head. “Get your head on straight. She’s in love with you.”

                “Ow!” Raph rubbed the back of his skull. “I get it okay!”

                “Raph!” Jack was screaming on the other side of the warehouse.

                The two turtles were on their feet instantly and running towards Donatello’s room. Just before they got there, the door was thrown open and Donatello’s form was sent sprawling out into the common area.

                “Donnie!” Mikey yelled as he came running from the training room.

                Raph jumped over his brothers and went into the bedroom, Leo on his heels. Jack was pressed up against a counted, a tray in her hand as she held it between her and Ant.

                “Come on Ant… I know you are in there…. Wake up!” She shouted at the approaching turtle.

                He staggered towards her, arm outstretched, he wrenched the tray away from her and grabbed for her. The woman ducked and he screamed. “Must retrieve!”

                Raph launched himself at the teenager and tackled him to the floor. Leo jumped on top of the pair to help hold the squirming Ant to the floor.

                “Jack! Quick do something to calm him down!”

                The woman scrambled away to find more sedative. She came back with another syringe and stabbed it into Ant’s arm. A few seconds later the turtle went limp and his brother’s climbed off of him.

                “I thought he was strapped down?” Raph panted as he grabbed Jack by the arm and pulled her into a rough embrace.

                “We had to unstrap him to roll him over. We couldn’t reach his neck.” She explained.

                “Don’t do that again.” Leo looked at her and pushed himself to his feet to go check on Donnie.

                But the one in purple was already on his way back in with Mikey right behind. “Put him back on the table.” Donnie ordered. “I need to attach this stupid thing before he wakes up again.”

                Leo and Mikey hoisted Ants lifeless form from the floor up onto the table. They kept him face down so that Donnie could easily access his neck. Donatello grabbed the tiny machine that had once been attached to Leonardo and brought it over to Ant. The other’s watched at he placed it at the base of the turtles skull and forced the little metal legs of the piece to pierce his pale skin. Where the object once held the fluid that controlled Leo, there was now a small circuit board, a tiny red light flashing every few seconds.

                “What’s with the light?” Mikey asked.

                “Well… I’m not trying to mutate him and I have no idea how the compound they used on Leo would affect Ant with all the hardware in him… so I am using this to emit a frequency that I am hoping will disrupt whatever frequency is being received by the chip in his head. I’ll need to figure those out from my computer once I get this set up. But hopefully, as long as I disrupt the signal, he will stay normal.”

                “This doesn’t sound like a permanent solution.” Leo looked at him as he worked.

                “It’s not.” Donnie said flatly as he adjusted the gadget on the back of Ant’s neck. “But it’s the best I can do.”

                “The only real solution will be to take out the source of the signal that’s being sent to Ant.” Jack told them.

                “And how are we going to do that?” Mikey asked.

                Jack frowned. “It means we have to go back to Xanus and stop it.”

                Everyone looked at her. They hadn’t been expecting her to say that.

                “Jack that mean…”

                “I know exactly what it means.” She looked at Raph. “If finding Adam means fixing Ant permanently then I will do it. If I have to then I will walk right in the front door and find him.”

                The turtle could feel her trembling in his arms and squeezed her a bit tighter. She was saying such brave things, but he could feel the fear in her body.

                “Hopefully it won’t come to that.” Leo looked over at her. “We don’t need to put you in any unnecessary danger. We will get in our normal way and solve this ourselves if we can. In and out before they know.”  

                “When do we leave?” Mikey put his hand on the weapons at his sides.

                Leo looked to Donnie. “As soon as Ant wakes up. We aren’t doing this without him. When you give him the okay we go to Xanus.” He looked at everyone else. “Get some rest. I have a feeling we are going to need it.”

                Mikey nodded and headed out to the kitchen. Raph took jack’s hand and led her from the room. But Leo stayed behind for a moment. He leaned on the table and gently rubbed the back of Ant’s head. Hanging his own he sighed. “We just can’t seem to get a break.”

                “What ever do you mean?” Donnie asked with attitude.

                “You know what I mean. We have been in a constant fight with Xanus for the past few years. I’m starting to doubt my decision to go south…”

                “You wouldn’t have been able to avoid this. Xanus would have moved up here anyway. We would have had to deal with him one way or another. And your little adventure led us to Jack and Ant in a way so… without you running off our family would have never grown.”

                “True.” Leo sighed, still looking down at the youngest member of the family. “I just wish I was doing a better job of keeping you all safe.”

                Donnie looked up from his computer. “That isn’t just your responsibility Leo. We all look out for each other.”

                “But I’m the eldest. I’m supposed to be the one in charge.” Leo clenched his fist.

                “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.” Donnie turned back to his computer. “You don’t perform well under pressure, that’s Raph’s department.”

                Leo nodded and ran a hand over his face. Then he looked up at his brother. “So… do you think you will be joining us when we go into Xanus?”

                That caused the one in purple to pause. “I… I would like to. I think it would be better to actually hack into their computer system rather then let Raph destroy the computer. That might not disrupt the signal permanently. My only fear is that I can’t move as fast as I once could. The prosthetic is still in its preliminary stages. It’s not functioning quite like a normal leg. I don’t know if it can handle kicks or flips or anything like that. If I make a few adjustments I _might_ be able to manage a run. And I stress might.”

                “Do what you can, I’ll leave it up to you. We will adjust the plan accordingly. But if you plan on coming, don’t work too hard, we will need to leave and I’ll want you at your best.”

                Donnie nodded and turned back to the computer.

               

                Unfortunately for Jack and the Hamato’s, Donnie’s progress in finding a frequency to block the one being sent to Ant wasn’t going so well. He spent over a week in his lab on a computer trying different programs and formulas that the others just didn’t understand. While he toiled away to try and find a temporary solution for their brother, the other’s spent the time training and devising a plan for infiltrating the Xanus complex.

                Mikey managed to find a map of the grounds. So they had a game plan of what building to assault and where to enter. The only issue was they didn’t have building schematics so they weren’t sure what rooms or hallways to take.

                While the boys were talking, Jack made a cup of tea and carried it into Donnie’s room. “Knock knock.”

                Donnie looked up. “Oh Jack…”

                She brought the cup over and offered it to him. “I thought you might need a pick me up.”

                He took the cup and took a long drink. “Thanks.”

                The woman turned to the table and put a hand on the side of Antonello’s face. “How is our sleepy friend?”

                “Good. He just needs to wake up.” Donnie folded his arms across his chest. “I think I found the right signal. I just need to make sure it works so he needs to wake up. He’s going to be in some pain most likely so until he is fit to go out with you all, I’m going to work on my leg so hopefully I can join you as well.”

                Jack nodded, her gaze still on Ant. The turtle under her hand slowly opened his eyes. He slowly turned his head and lifted up his arm. The woman took a step back and Donatello grabbed her arm and pulled her away just in case.

                “What is this annoying buzzing sound?” He asked as he reached for the back of his head.

                Donatello grabbed his arm and stopped him. “Don’t touch that. It’s the only thing keeping you sane right now… I hope anyway.”

                “Thanks… but’s it’s giving me a terrible headache.” And rubbed at his temples.

                “The painkillers are in the cabinet. Take them with you.” Donnie paused. “Let us know if you start hearing anything strange again…”

                “Just the buzzing.” Ant slid off the table and went to the cupboard to grab the pills. After swallowing a handful down he looked at Jack. “How long have I been on this table?”

                “Two weeks maybe?” Jack scratched her head. “Come on, you have got to be hungry. Let’s get you some food.”

                The pair made their way out to the kitchen. The other turtle had disappeared back to the training room. They could hear the clashing of weapons and fists, but Jack insisted that Ant stay in the kitchen.

                “Get some food first. Then you can go beat up on the guys.” She gave him a smile before turning to the fridge and pulling out something to cook.

                Ant sat down at the dining room table and watched the woman cook as he rubbed the side of his head. It was throbbing but the painkillers were dulling the pain slightly.

                “So what… Jack?” He sat up straight as he watched her take a small step back. She was wavering. Then her knees buckled and she dropped. “Jack!” Ant was quick enough to catch her before she hit the ground. As soon as she was caught the woman blinked and tried to shove Antonello off of her.

                “I’m fine.”

                “You are not fine! You just… fainted.” His brow was creased behind his yellow bandana.

                “I did no such thing!” Jack looked him hard in the eyes. “I was just a bit dizzy. And you will not tell Raph!” She straightened out her shirt and turned back to the stove. After gathering up his food she placed it on the table before him.

                Ant looked at the food and his stomach rumbled but he looked back to Jack instead. “Are you sure you are okay?”

                “Yes! I’m fine! Now eat!” She patted him on the shoulder and took a deep breath. “I’ll go tell the guys you are awake.” She walked away and headed down the hall. But she didn’t go to the training room. Instead she turned and went into the bathroom.

                Putting the lid down she sat down on top of the toilet and ran her hands over her face. She took a shaky breath and tried to stop her hands from shaking. “This can’t be happening… this can’t be happening. Not now… not now!” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the shell cell and pressed the button for April.

                “Hello?”

                “A-April?”

                “Jack? Is everything okay?”

                “Yeah... I just…. Do you think I could come over tonight? I need to talk to you.”

                “Of course. You can come over whenever you want.”

               


	35. Chapter 35

                Jack knocked on April’s window from the fire escape landing. A few moments later the red headed woman came and opened up the pane of glass and let her young friend in. The hugged briefly before April gestured to the sofa behind the toddler playing on the floor.

                “You had me a bit worried after your call. Is everything okay?”

                She nodded. “Probably. I just… I’m probably over reacting. I just needed to get out of the house. A little cabin fever I guess.” She was wringing her hands in her lap.

                “Do you want a… drink or something?” April offered, trying to think of something to settle the other woman’s nerves.

                “Sure. But I’m going to use your bathroom first.” Jack excused herself. She made her way down the hall and to the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Then she pulled open the medicine cabinet. He hands started to rummage through all the bottles of pills and tubes of creams and paste. “No no no….” She couldn’t find what she was looking for. Things were clattering off the little shelves and into the sink as she looked in a panic but she still couldn’t find anything. Then the woman hunched down and wrenched open the doors that revealed the underside of the sink. She pushed aside rolls of toilet paper and paper towels, spare packages of diapers and wipes until she found a little box she was hoping April would still have.

 

                “April?”

                The red head turned around to find her husband walking in the front door. “Casey!” She went over and kissed him. “Thank god you are home.”

                “Is something wrong?” He scratched the back of his head and brushed his long hair back out of his face.

                “It’s Jack. She came over and went to the bathroom… she’s been in there for over half an hour! She won’t open the door!”

                Casey dropped his coat onto the table and walked back down the hall with his wife. “Is she alright?”

                “I can hear her crying in there but I can’t get her to open it up and I can’t find the key.” April frowned.

                Casey sighed and knocked on the door. “Jack? Jack it’s Casey. Is everything okay in there?” No answer. “Come on Jackie, open up the door we are really worried about you.” Still nothing. “ Alright Jack, I’m going to open this door so, don’t be in the way.” He grabbed the door knob and slammed his shoulder against the door. It took a few tries but eventually the door frame busted and the couple made their way into the bathroom.

                They found Jacquelyn sitting on the edge of the bathtub, her arms wrapped around her legs and face buried in her knees. April went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. “Jack… Jack what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

                Meanwhile Casey picked something up off the sink’s edge. “Uh… April, I think I know.”

                April looked over. “A pregnancy test?” The color seemed to drain from her face. The news anchor got to her feet and too the little test from her husband and looked down at the plus sign displayed on it. In the trash can April found three other positive tests, Jack had used the whole box. April turned back to Jack. “Is this what this is all about? You’re pregnant?”

                Jack slowly nodded. “How… how am I supposed to tell Raph?”

                Casey was scowling behind his wife. “Tell him what part? That your pregnant or that you cheated on him?”

                Jack was on her feet in a second. Her hand connected with the side of his face. “How dare you say that. I would never do that to him!” More tears rolled down her cheeks.

                “So it’s Raph’s?” April asked a bit surprised herself.

                “Who else’s would it be?” Jack asked defensively, wrapping her arms around herself. “He’s the only one I’ve been with.”

                Casey’s shoulder’s sagged. “I just… didn’t think something like this was possible.”

                “I wasn’t exactly planning on it either.”

                “it has to be from the mutation.” April said suddenly. “Because it shouldn’t be possible. It’s the only explanation.”

                Jack closed her eyes. “I don’t care about how it happened… I just… Raph and I have never even discussed the remote chance of ever having children or raising something like children. How am I supposed to tell him this? Especially now when we are supposed to be going to Xanus…”

                “Well you can’t hide it from him. He’s the father, he has a right to know.” Casey told her.

                “I know… I just don’t want this to get in the way of what we are trying to do.”

                April took one of Jack’s hand. “All of the decisions are yours. We will be here for you no matter what you decide okay?”

                The girl nodded and got to her feet.

“Look I really think you should see a doctor about all of this. Make sure everything is checking out and you aren’t just being paranoid about a missed period and a few positive tests.”

                Jack looked at April and pointed to her own face. “I can’t exactly walk into a clinic like this! Besides… I don’t even know what my baby is going to look like… I can’t… if a doctor saw something on the screen that wasn’t ‘normal’ how am I going to explain that?”

                Casey frowned. “What about that friend of yours. Arionna. Isn’t she a med student or something? Couldn’t she get something to look at you?”

 Jack nodded again. “I um… I didn’t tell anyone I was leaving. They are going to be furious when I get back. I should go.” She grabbed her jacket from the side of the tub and put it on. “Please don’t tell anyone.” Then she slipped out of the room and left the apartment without another word.

                April looked up at Casey. “Do you think they are going to be alright?” Casey asked her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

                “Once she calms down a bit I think so. Raph I think will freak out more than she did.”

 

                Jack tried to sneak her way back into the warehouse. She wasn’t all that successful. As soon as she opened the door, a big green hand grabbed her.

                Raphael pulled her inside. “Where the hell have you been!?” He almost shouted. “I was worried sick!”

                “I went over to April’s.” She said quietly.

                “Aprils?! But..!” Then he noticed the streaks down her face. She was no longer crying but the tear trails were still there. “Jacquelyn?” His voice was much softer now. “What’s wrong?”

                “It’s nothing.” She brushed passed him and headed for the steps to their room.

                “Jack-”

                “How’s Ant feeling?” She cut him off.

                “Better. His head still hurts, Donnie wants to give him another few days here at home where we can keep an eye on him before we try to infiltrate Xanus with him.”

                “That sounds like a good Idea.” She said without turning around.

                “Will you please tell me what’s wrong?” He asked as he started up the stairs after her. “You know how much it pisses me off when you don’t talk to me.” He grumbled.

                “I’m pregnant.” She didn’t even pause as she reached the second floor.

                Raphael’s foot missed the next step and he fell forward skidding back down to the first level. The clatter of shell on metal stairs caused his brothers to come rushing out of the other rooms and see what was going on. It wasn’t like Raph to be so clumsy. The turtle on the floor seemed pale, his eye wide as he sat there stunned.

                “Raph? You okay?” Mikey asked as he helped him to his feet.

                The bigger turtle shoved his brother off of him and rushed up the stairs and into his room leaving the other’s scratching their heads as he slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.

                Jack jumped a bit and turned around. “Damn it Raph, don’t scare me like that…” She put a hand on her racing heart for a moment before she went back to stripping off her clothes and pulling on pajamas.

                “Are you serious?” He barely breathed the question as he walked up to her.

                “What?” She looked up at him.

                “What you said on the stairs… was it true?” He seemed desperate, almost begging for an answer but Jack wasn’t sure if it was in a good or bad way.

                Jack swallowed hard and then slowly nodded. “Yes.”

                Raphael grabbed her face and pulled her into a hard but passionate kiss. When he pulled away he was grinning like a fool. “I love you.”

                Jack looked up at him, confused. “I…”

                “Why didn’t you tell me first?” He asked her as he pulled her over to the bed to sit with him.

                She hung her head. “I didn’t want you to be angry or anything. We’ve never discussed this, I had no idea how you felt about it.”

                He wrapped his arms around her. “Jack… We… my brothers and I…we never thought it was possible really… We are mutants, I thought that kind of negated the whole having children thing, at least with anyone that wasn’t also a giant mutant turtle. And since there are only a few of those around…” He smirked. “I didn’t think it’d ever happen.  Leo was always the one adamant about having kids, I just kind of ignored the thought… I didn’t think it was possible so why think about it and get depressed about something I couldn’t have. That’s not to say I never wanted it to. Granted, a bit more preparation would have been nice but I guess I’ve always kind of wanted kids at some point.” It seemed like admitting it was a bit hard, like he was coming to terms with the idea all over again.

                Jack kissed him. “So you are okay with all this?”

                “Of course I am!” He hugged her tight.

                “I was going to call Arionna in a few days, ask her to come over and see if she could get an ultra sound or something.” She said anxiously, the more she talked about it the more it seemed real.

                The turtle kissed the side of her head. “I just… I can’t believe it.” He was grinning, his own heart racing. Jack could almost hear it against his shell.

                Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Jack pulled herself from Raphael’s arms, despite his protests, and pulled their bedroom door open. Mikey was standing there rubbing the back of his head and adjusting his mask.

                “You two okay up here?”  He asked a bit embarrassed to be interrupting. “’Honestly, didn’t know you were home, but Raph was acting strange… We were getting a little worried.”

                Jack smiled softly. “We are fine. How is Ant doing? Any progress?”

                “He’s good. His head still hurts but he hasn’t freaked out or anything if that’s what you mean.”

                Raph came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

                “Later.” She simply told him. Turning back to Mikey she was about to say something but the turtle was already talking,

                “Leo wants us all to make sure we get some rest. Donnie fixed up his leg so Leo wants us all to train with him tomorrow, test it out and get some practice.”

                “Okay.” Jack nodded.

                “Goodnight you two.” Mikey turned and left.

                Raph shut the door and pulled Jack back to him. “You aren’t coming with us.” His voice was firm.

                “Like hell I’m not!” Jack pushed his hands off of her.

                Raph’s brow furrowed. “I am not about to let you put yourself and our future child in danger!”

                “But you were fine with putting me in danger before?” Jack put her hands on her hips. “Look, you need me there and you know it!”

                “I…” Raph shut his mouth and snorted. She was right, although he’d never say it outloud.

                “Exactly! You know that you need me, especially if we are going to run into Adam.” Her tone softened.

                The turtle grabbed her shoulders and rested his forehead against hers. “I never liked the idea of putting you in danger… especially not now.”

                “You’ll be with me. I think I’ll be okay.”

                “You better be.” He kissed her and then pulled her over to the bed.

 

                “Hey! Time to wake up you two!” Ant flung the bedroom door open. Then his face went instantly red when he found Raph and Jack together in bed. With the blanket barely covering Jack, and the amount of exposed skin, it was easy to imagine what they had been doing.

                “Ant.” Raph nearly growled as he pulled the blanket up over his lover. “What exactly are you doing in our room?”

                Antonello turned away from them. “I uh… Leo told me to come get you… breakfast is getting cold and uh.. he wanted to start training with Don to test out his new leg.”

                “Get out.” Raph snapped. “We will be down in a few minutes.”

                The other turtle rushed out, half slamming the door behind him. Raphael looked down at the woman who was curled into his side. He ran a warm hand down her side.

                “You should probably put some clothes on. You might have given Ant a heart attack.”

                She smacked him. “Oh my god…. How much did he see?!” She suddenly looked over her shoulder to see how much of herself was uncovered.

                “Just about everything when he opened that door.” Raph chuckled a bit.

                Jack smacked him again. “That’s not funny! He doesn’t need to see that!”

                “I think it looks great though…”

                “For you… not for him or anyone else.” She kissed his chin.

                Raph leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “We should get up before Leo has a fit. Put some clothes on.” He climbed over her and got out of bed to find his bandana and his weapons. “I am… I’m going to talk to Donnie really quick about something. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

                “Okay.” Jack slid out of bed and grabbed some clothes. After getting dressed, straightening out her hair and finding her own weapons she made her way to the kitchen. No one was around so she found herself a seat at the table and got a plate of food. The eggs were cold but Jack wasn’t going to waste them so she ate them quickly as she looked around for the boys.

               

                In Donnie’s lab Raph was leaning on the back of Don’s chair peering over his shoulder. “So, do you think you can do it?”

                Donatello pulled his prosthetic off the table and put it up to his stump. After connecting it to his leg and adjusting a few things, he looked up at his brother. “Making her some gloves like Ant’s arm guard won’t be a problem. I’m just curious as to why now? Her fighting skill is primarily defense and dodging.”

                “Still, if she’s close enough to hit them, she’s close enough to get hit. I’d like her to have something to help block any blades that might get to close.”

                “Getting a little extra protective aren’t we?” Donnie smirked.

                Raph smacked him on the back of the head. “Just do it for me okay?”

                “I’ll do it for her. Not for you.” He got to his feet and tested out his ankle. “But after some practice.”

                The pair made their way out into the hallway where they found Jack just about to head into the training room. Following her in they found Mikey and Ant already locked in a series of blows. Leo stood across the room, his arms folded across his chest, frowning.

                “Ant! You have to protect your head more! Until we get that signal cut, that bug on your skull is the only thing keeping you sane! If it gets knocked off you are gone!”

                Ant growled. “I know!”

                Mikey hunched down and swept the younger turtles legs out from under him.

                Antonello fell back to his shell and swore. Jack hunched down and helped the turtle up to his feet as Leo walked over.

                “It’s about time the three of you joined us.”

                Ant wiped his hands off on his legs, but couldn’t bring himself to look at Jack as he mumbled a thank you, his face turning red. The woman just rolled her eyes and looked over at Leo. “Oh stop. I’m pretty sure we are plenty ready.”

                Leo pointed at Ant and then at Don. “Do they look plenty ready?!” Then he got in her face. “When was the last time you practiced?  Are you sure you are ready to face Adam?”

                Her eye brow twitched. Without a word her arm lashed out and grabbed his wrist. Pulling him towards her she got him off balance, the turtle not expecting an attack. Her leg hooked under one of his and he was on the ground in a second. Jack was kneeling on his plastron, her shobo at his throat. “Don’t say I’m not ready to see my brother.”

                Leo held his hands up.

                “I’m more ready than any of you.” She glared at him.

                “I can see that. I’m sorry I offended you.” Leo said to her.

                Raph put a hand on her shoulder and eased her up off of his brother. Jack put her weapon back into the strap on her thigh. “Did he press a button?” He asked.

                She just elbowed him, still a bit miffed.

                Leo hopped up to his feet. “Well, Jack might be ready, but Donnie still needs to test out his leg.” He motioned for the nerd to come into the room and get ready. Mikey faced him and they readied themselves to spar. The others all took up stances and found a partner to start their own sparing.

                They trained well into the afternoon until they were all tired and sore. Mikey was quick to order them some pizza for dinner while Donnie went back into his lab to work on the special project Raph had requested. His leg had held up rather well as far as training went, he used it as a support leg and wouldn’t jump off of it or anything, but it did well for as much as he used it. Jack went to get a shower and clean up while Ant and Leo went to meditate and try and control the buzzing still plaguing the teens head.

                Raph let himself into Donnie’s room and made his way to a cupboard on the far wall. The one in purple looked up at his brother and watched him pull a small box out and shove it into his belt.

                “I was wondering if it was you who brought those with us to the warehouse…” Donnie looked back down to the work at hand. “You haven’t touched one in years… what’s making you start up again?”

                “I just need to calm down.” Raph snapped before he turned and left the room.


End file.
